FREEPORT — The two candidates for Stephenson County sheriff agree that the department is understaffed, but differ on how to deal with an opioid crisis and whether the county's 911 center should be consolidated with the city of Freeport's operation.
Stephenson County Sheriff David Snyders and Lena Police Chief Stephen Schaible appeared Wednesday at the Freeport Public Library for a candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Freeport and Freeport Public Library Foundation.
Snyders spent 21 years in the Freeport Police Department and has served as Stephenson County sheriff for the last 19 years. Schaible brings 24 years of law enforcement experience in the county and is the police chief in both Lena and Cedarville.
To combat the opioid crisis that is affecting the country, Schaible would seek funding that would pay for a deputy to work on the Stateline Area Narcotics Team. He's already found grants that would cover the cost, he said.
"I would immediately apply for that grant and get that through so we could add one sheriff’s deputy to the Stateline Area Narcotics Taskforce," Schaible said. "The only way we’re going to help this is to get more people out there, more drug enforcement agents to help stop the trafficking and more agents to stop the sales."
Snyders would take a slightly different approach, saying that grant funding for local entities has largely dried up in the last 10 years. His office is involved in a task force with FHN and several other local entities that is researching the drug problem.
"In order to solve this, we have to educate our people," Snyders said. "We have to provide treatment to these people."
Snyders and Schaible also had differing opinions on whether Stephenson County and the city of Freeport should consolidate 911 call centers. Snyders said in an ideal world, consolidation would happen, but cited a lack of space, the difficulty of working with two different unions and a lack of cost savings as barriers to consolidation. Four groups have been formed to explore consolidation in the last several years, he said.
"Each time we’ve met, it’s been determined that it would not be cost effective to consolidate these two 911 centers," he said.
A 2015 report estimated that the Stephenson County Sherriff's Department would net a savings of about $454,000 per year through consolidation. The Freeport Police Department would save about $146,000 per year, according to the document.
Schaible said reaching agreements with both unions could be accomplished through an open line of communication. He fully supported consolidation, saying that a space big enough could surely be found.
"To combine services and lower costs on both sides, I think it’s a no-brainer," he said. "As long as you can save money and still give the public the same service, I don’t see any reason not to do it."
Both Snyders and Schaible expressed an interest to hire additional staff both on the road and at the Stephenson County Jail. The jail opened with 32 correctional officers, but has operated with 23 since 2010, Snyders said.
He added that a recent audit, and testing from the Department of Corrections have indicated that the jail is critically understaffed.
“We house everyone from violent offenders to traffic violators," Snyders said. "It’s a dangerous place and a dangerous situation.”
Derrick Mason: 815-232-0133; derrick.mason@journalstandard.com; @derrickhmason