06/15/2023; UPDATED: 06/16/2023

McLean County Sheriff Matt Lane made a tactical retreat at the McLean County Justice Committee meeting regarding adding SWAT capabilities to the Sheriff’s Deputies arsenal.

An intergovernmental agreement with the Bloomington Police Department (BPD) was placed on the Justice Committee agenda for approval last week on June 6th, 2023. The agreement would create the Emergency Assistance Group for Law Enforcement (EAGLE). It’s an apt acronym because eagles have these built in concepts of freedom & patriotism, but eagles are also ravenous birds of prey. It would require additional training & equipment, to be paid by McLean County tax-payers.

Several citizens gave public comment in opposition to the proposed deal, including local activist Karla Bailey-Smith and local communist Matt Toczko.

However, Sheriff Lane ultimately pulled the agenda item from the meeting, preventing any public discussion on the proposal. He provided no evidence there was an increased need for a militarized SWAT team. BPD, the Normal Police Department (NPD), and the Illinois State Police (ISP), all have SWAT teams that are utilized in McLean County.

There is also multi-jurisdictional covert operations unit in McLean County called Task Force Six. Created in 1983 to investigate drug & vice offenses (largely nonviolent, victimless crimes), its activities include SWAT deployments, though it relies on the SWAT teams of the above agencies. E-mails obtained already show the McLean County Sheriff’s active involvement in the unit (though we can assume it doesn’t include all possible SWAT deployments).

Sheriff Lane said he would like more time to speak with County Board members privately, i.e., off the record and out of the public eye. It’s been confirmed by Agitation Rising that the Sheriff plans to bring the EAGLE proposal to the Justice Committee at the July meeting on Wednesday the fifth. The proposal will have more specifics on how much this will cost and include any alleged oversight.

However, unless it can be clearly shown there is a need for this expanded, militarized team, any amount of money (whether $1 or $10,000) would be a waste. The salary for a McLean County Sheriffs Deputy is between $63,355 to $95,933.

The McLean County Jail only has four mental health employees whose average salary is between $47,000 to $50,000. The jail needs more mental health staff. The county does not need more militarized police.

CORRECTION: This article originally implied that Task Force 6 had its own separate SWAT team. This has been corrected.

FROM BLONO WITH LOVE

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