The Sangamon County Sheriff's Dept. can't be fixed from the outside

Sheriff Campbell admitted on The Table podcast (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Si5-jqzN-E) (8:40 to 12:20) that the Sangamon County Sheriff’s department hired deputies for most of it’s recent history based on legacy and referrals from current and retired deputies. This is unacceptable and given that Sonya Massey’s murderer, Sean Grayson, was hired using this system, it has a clear reason why it must end.

So, why am I not calling for Sheriff Campbell’s resignation? For starters, the Sheriff has been open and candid about apologizing for Grayson’s behavior. He was able to quickly defeat a grievance from the police union for Grayson’s reinstatement. The Sheriff’s department quickly outlined the policies Grayson violated and that Grayson took deliberate actions doing so. This proves good administrative leadership.

Second, the actions Sheriff Campbell had taken were likely as swift as possible considering the Illinois State Police (ISP) was performing the investigation and ongoing murder investigations take time. He did not interfere, as far as we know, with the investigation. If he moved faster, it would increase the chance that Grayson could be let off on a technicality. That would be grave miscarriage of justice. This proves Sheriff Campbell can work under high pressure from outside authorities.

Third, the department is full of deputies hired based on legacy and referrals, including Sheriff Campbell. Given new State-mandated requirements to be elected Sheriff, a likely Democratic candidate will come from outside the department and possibly from outside Sangamon County. There are numerous family relationships that must be managed in the department. An outside appointed or elected Sheriff will not know these relationships and likely not care about them. This will reduce morale even further in a department that is under scrutiny. Sheriff Campbell, being a product of the system and open to change, is the best option to lead the necessary change in hiring practices at the department.

There are many good deputies in the department, such as Grayson’s partner and now star witness for the prosecution. Removing current deputies solely based on their method of hire will punish them for the actions that they did not take and a system they did not necessarily build. There is now a clear reason why nepotism is unacceptable. It is clear that once candidates are in the “pool”, a rubric needs to be developed to select the next deputy hired and it cannot be based on references alone.

County board members should be given oversight on the new hiring process, likely through expanding the powers of the Deputy Merit Board. The Merit Board should be permitted to evaluate all information on candidates, conduct background checks and review test scores. It should then issue a scored ranking on suitability for the department and the Sheriff can select from the the top 3 candidates available in the “pool”. It will slow the process but it ensures that our department isn’t hiring deputies solely on the basis of being in the “pool” and being someone’s future son-in-law. I surmise that there were better candidates available than Sean Grayson but as they didn’t have a referal (and neither did Grayson until his current relationship), they were not selected for hire.

If we, The People of Sangamon County, are unhappy with progress being made at the department, we should vote out Sheriff Campbell in 2026.

Sonya Massey should be alive today. We need to do better as a county government. Nepotism is an unacceptable practice in the private sector as well as government. Our county board should lead this effort and encourage departments to hire the best qualified candidates, not the best connected ones.

Posted on 04 Aug 2024, 10:48 - Category: Justice for Sonya Massey