Sheriff's Office

Dan Walsh, Sheriff
Kris Bolt, Chief Deputy Sheriff
 

The Champaign County Sheriff’s Office has three separate uniformed and sworn divisions each of which have different primary job duties, including Law Enforcement, Court Security and Corrections.

The Law Enforcement Division consists of 53 persons (which includes the Sheriff and Chief Deputy who both have responsibilities other than Law Enforcement such as the 2 jails and Courthouse). They patrol and answer calls throughout the County which is about 1,050 square miles (the 4th largest County in the State). We are the primary police agency for approximately 50,000 people.

In 2005 we answered about 41,000 calls for service which resulted in 5,237 reports or investigations being created including 1 homicide, 40 criminal sexual assaults, 12 robberies, and 285 burglaries.

In 2005 the division wrote 3,169 traffic citations, gave 2,922 written warnings, and investigated 1,164 traffic crashes, including 4 fatalities.

The division is also responsible for service of civil process and in 2005 served 10,240 papers of various types (subpoena, summons, court orders, etc.) with unsuccessfully attempting to serve another 2,804 papers.

The Court Security Division includes 13 sworn officers and 3 bailiffs. They handle prisoners, tend to juries, and provide individual courtroom security for 11 courtrooms.

They provide security at the front entrance as well as to the entire building. One officer has an explosive detection K-9 (Duke) working at all times. Court Security Officers also assist the other divisions with prisoner and mental health transports when manpower shortages exist and likewise other divisions assist Court Security when they are short. Court Security Officers have been called upon to handle special details at or around the courthouse such as the Urbana Sweet Corn Festival and Law School Trial Competitions.

The Corrections Division consists of 2 jails and 56 officers and 11 supervisors, including the Captain. They book-in (intake at the Satellite Jail) between 500 and 660 prisoners each month (2005). Between 10-20 prisoners are taken to court each business day, on average 6 medical/mental health transports per week are completed. Corrections Officers provide security for in-custody inmates during trials, transport 5-25 prisoners per week to the Illinois Department of Corrections which usually requires 2 trips (1 for males and 1 for females). Additionally, the Correction’s Division does all of the in-house work for the home confinement (CHIPs) prisoners which now average about 50 clients per day.

The Corrections Division operates with 6 full-time and 6-part-time Master Control Operators (individuals who run the electronics at the jails) and 2 civilian visitation/mail clerks. The Division uses outside contractors for medical care for prisoners (3 full-time registered nurses and 1 part-time doctor) and mental health care (3.5 full-time counselors and 1 part-time psychiatrist) and has an outside food vendor who also uses our trustees.