A quick synopsis of Tuesday's Meet & Greet

I was more than a little surprised by the turnout. The count was 75 attendees. It was standing room only. The two candidates, Phil Beu and Dave Ernest, gave opening statements then took questions from the crowd. All were civil and it was a nice give and take. We had I believe two Rockford T.V. stations and two newspapers covering the event. Rich Witt did his normal fine job as moderator.
  Phil was the previous Deputy Chief of the Boone County Sheriffs' Department having left two years ago. He currently is working security for a bank as well as some work with the Rockford Police. Dave is currently Deputy Chief of Operations at the Belvidere Police Department. Both have extensive training and experience.
  I have decided who I think is best for the job but it is inappropriate for me to indicate that here. Below are some general candidate stands. Both agree there must be more co-operation between the Belvidere Police Department, the Sheriffs' Department, and our Public Safety Department and both intend to make that happen. On the question of concealed carry that is now legal in Illinois, both are for it. Both agree gangs and drugs are a major problem not only in our county but pretty much everywhere and they pledge to do all possible to combat it with a no tolerance stance.
  Phil intends to reallocate the Deputy patrol presence to have better coverage in the areas of most calls, meaning the Poplar Grove/Candlewick area. More population means more calls and we are the major population center of the county excluding Belvidere. Dave also intends to cover better and wants to have increased resident involvement in reporting and self policing communities.
  As a side note, there are currently 38 full time deputies in Boone County working twelve hour shifts.
  I asked no "at the mic" questions but after the session I approached both with something that has really stuck in my craw for some time. Deputies should never be assigned to our gates to write tickets for seat belt violations and I wanted to hear their stand on the issue. In my mind they should be patrolling, not entrapping our residents as they stop for the gate. Both agreed this is wrong and does not promote good feelings toward the department by our residents. Either one that wins, I will be right there reminding them of their comments here tonight if it ever happens again. I want that stopped. These are our private gates, not a means for them to raise funds.
Ken