To help respond to calls faster and have more of a presence in the communities it serves, the Kane County Sheriff’s Office is looking to open substations in Aurora and Elgin within the next month.
The sheriff’s office, headquartered in St. Charles, previously had north and south substations in the county but those closed about a decade ago, Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain said.
“We are a very long county … and having a centralized office does a disservice to our deputies and our citizens,” Hain said.
If approved by the Kane County Board, the sheriff’s office will rent a two-story residence in Aurora owned by the Fox Valley Park District for $500 a month to use as a substation. The house is located on Blackberry Farm at 3020 W. Galena Blvd. and would serve as office space for deputies to use on a daily basis. The house also includes a two-car garage and storage shed.
Aurora Township holds the largest population being served by the sheriff’s office and also produces the biggest call volume to the sheriff, Hain said, making Aurora an ideal location for a substation.
“Having deputies work out of St. Charles every day and have to come up to turn in paperwork and evidence just didn’t make sense,” Hain said. “This allows them to respond quickly and not leave their work zone to take care of any bureaucracy.”
The lease at the Aurora site would run for 12 months with the option of renting month to month once the lease expires, according to the resolution to be voted on by the county board.
The Sheriff’s Office also will be using space out of Elgin Community College’s facility off Plank Road in Elgin for a substation in a move that has already been worked out. In exchange, the college will have access to some of the county’s software, sheriff’s officials said.
Hain said he hopes both substations will be fully operational by April 1. Each substation will have a patrol lieutenant stationed there and one to two sergeants and three to four deputies per shift, according to the plan.
The Kane County Board will vote on the lease on the Aurora site on March 3.