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player ready...Kane County saw an uptick in felonies during 2017’s first six months — the second consecutive year to reach the midway point with an increase in serious crimes, Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said.
McMahon, speaking during his monthly press briefing, couldn’t point to a specific cause for a 14 percent bump in serious crimes over the same time frame in 2016. He noted Aurora stated it had fewer felony cases; Carpentersville reported an increase in property and drug cases; and Elgin experienced more robbery, aggravated battery and felony driving (including drunken driving) offenses.
“I’m always hesitant to talk about trends,” McMahon said of what he considered a “significant increase” in filings because of the cyclical nature of crime numbers. “Certainly it’s something we’re paying attention to.”
Through June 30, Kane prosecutors filed 1,247 felonies in 2017 compared to 1,068 by the same date last year, McMahon said. The county finished 2016 with a total of 2,258 felony filings, a figure which marked the first year-over-year increase among the most-serious cases in a decade — although still far fewer than Kane’s high-water mark of nearly 3,200 felonies in 2010.
McMahon expressed support and appreciation for the Elgin Police Department’s body camera program, which is expected to put the equipment on 140 officers by the end of the year, saying it will help with prosecutions.
“This will help lawyers on both sides with the evaluation of our case,” McMahon said of the upside of information captured by the cameras. “Generally, people behave better when they know they are being audio and video recorded. (Cameras) provide accountability on both sides of the relationship.”
The challenge, however, comes in the additional time it will take for prosecutors to review the videos. As an example, McMahon discussed how an assistant state’s attorney who previously would assess a DUI case based on written reports could need as much as 30 minutes of review time per officer involved in a drunken driving stop.
“That takes more people time,” McMahon said.
He acknowledged the videos could lead to more plea agreements, depending on what types of statements and evidence they yield, which would shorten the duration of some cases. McMahon said videos will ultimately be beneficial to judges and juries who can get a first-hand look at certain aspects of cases.
Ultimately, McMahon expects the same learning curve and benefits as happened when squad car dash cams were first introduced years ago.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.