State's attorney's office addresses Citizen Academy

SYCAMORE – Mike Miller isn’t a real person. Well, he is, but that’s not his real name.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Citizen Academy heard Thursday about a police report and a 911 call from several years ago involving “Miller.”

He had called 911 because he needed a ride from Shabbona to Kishwaukee Hospital for a sleep study. When the dispatcher said that was not an emergency – an ambulance service and a taxi service are very different enterprises – Miller said he was also suffering from chest pains. Spoiler alert: He probably wasn’t, and he ended up getting charged with disorderly conduct because he called 911 instead of Lyft. This was not the first time.

At the third class for this session of the academy, representatives from the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office taught about what their office does. Although the office’s focus is justice, State’s Attorney Rick Amato said that can look different in different situations. The office has to advocate for the state, the victim and for justice, he said.

“Our job is not just to be the hammer,” Amato said.

He said justice looks different in different situations and for different people. As an example, he pointed to various courts for drug and alcohol offenses, which focus on treatment rather than harsh punishment. A proposed program he’s currently working on will get people in the justice system the mental health they need as well, and he’s been working with groups from the Quad Cities to the suburbs to make the connections necessary.

Assistant State’s Attorney Dave Belshan said law enforcement, when dealing with drugs, focuses on the suppliers and sellers of drugs, and tries to help the users.

“It affects every strata of society,” he said. “We represent the people, and it’s our duty to make sure they have a fair trial.”

Amato became state’s attorney about a year ago.

He said one of the first things he did was create a mission statement for the office.

The five-part statement focuses on professionalism in the office and defines who the office works for: the people.

That mission statement also came with a new logo. Instead of using the county logo, letterhead now includes the scales of justice with a little local flair – it’s ringed in a circle of barbed wire.

“It was something unique to our community,” Amato said.

It’s a job that has become more challenging over the years. First Assistant State’s Attorney Stephanie Klein said that when she joined the office in 2001, the office prosecuted 691 felonies. In 2017, there were 921 felony cases. A felony is any crime that carries a sentence of a year or more in prison.

The office does not work for the police, but it does work with them. Any charges the office brings against an individual have to be backed up by evidence.

Someone from the office is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When police are investigating a crime, the state’s attorney’s office will often send a representative to the scene.

But the office doesn’t handle just the big crimes. They prosecute all of them, including transportation-bereft “Mike Miller.” When the ambulance arrived Oct. 22, 2015, to pick him up for his supposed chest pains, a sheriff’s deputy also showed up. He was going to miss his appointment.

“I instructed him to step out of the ambulance. I then placed him in handcuffs in front of his body, checking for proper fit and double-lock engaged,” the reporting officer’s narrative read.