Name: Dan Jungles
What office are you seeking: Will County Sheriff
What is your political party? The candidate did not respond
What is your current age? 50
Occupation and employer: I have been a police officer with the Will County Sheriff’s Office for almost 27 years. I started my career as a police officer, assigned to the Will County Adult Detention Facility. I transferred to the patrol division as a police officer and became a detective several years later. I was promoted to the rank of sergeant after being a detective for approximately 8 years. I was a sergeant for approximately 5 years, before being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. I was promoted a year later to the rank of Deputy Chief, which was a position that I held for approximately 8 years. This past December, I was promoted to the rank of Undersheriff.
What offices, if any, have you previously held? This is the first time I have run for political office. I was elected by my peers to the position of Director/Chairman of the Will/Grundy Major Crimes Task Force. I was appointed to the position of Deputy Chief and now Undersheriff Sheriff Mike Kelley. I have also been appointed to the Executive Boards of the United Way of Will County, the 100 Club of Will County, the Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Lab and as an Advisory Council member of Reclaim13.
City: I currently live in Channahon. I am a life-long Will County resident. I grew up in Homer Township. I have also lived in Lockport and Crest Hill. I can trace my family’s roots to this county to 1836 when the county was first established.
Campaign website: www.JunglesForSheriff.com Facebook: Dan Jungles for Will County Sheriff Instagram: jungles4sheriff
Education: I attended high school at Lockport Township High School and attended my first two years of college at Joliet Junior College. I transferred to Western Illinois University and graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement in August of 1997. I am also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy which is a law enforcement academy through the University of Virginia.
Community involvement: Since being a supervisor at the Will County Sheriff’s Office, I have spoken at many community events, village board meetings, homeowners’ associations, and schools regarding public safety within the community. For over a decade I have been volunteering for the United Way of Will County, and I currently serve on their executive board. I have been a member of FOP Lodge 94 since 1999 and have been involved in fundraising efforts and participating in community events such as Shop with a Sheriff, Candlelight bowl, and the annual school supply drive. I have also been involved in the Will County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition for almost a decade, whose mission is to educate youth regarding the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. I have also volunteered at our family’s church for fundraisers for religious education programs. In addition, I have also volunteered for both school and social events that my children have participated in throughout the years.
Marital status/Immediate family: I have been married to my loving wife Jennifer for over 17 years. She is a teacher for the Joliet Township High School district and has been with that district for over 22 years. We have two kids, Abigail (15) who is a sophomore attending Minooka Community High School; Derek (13) who is in 8th grade attending Channahon Junior High School.
What are your top three priorities for this district?
Increasing transparency at the Will County Sheriff’s Office is my number one priority. For far too long, the sheriff’s office has relied solely on the guidance of various attorneys from the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office and outside legal counsel, regarding the release of information and Body Worn Camera (BWC) footage of Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) incidents and other critical incidents. The failure to release these videos and/or information in a timely manner has done irreputable harm to the public’s trust in the Will County Sheriff’s Office. By not releasing information or BWC videos, it gives the illusion of coverup or potential police misconduct. If we do not put the information out, someone else will. I will make it POLICY to release all videos involving OIS incidents or other critical incidents within seven days of the incident so that the public can make their own conclusions as what the video depicts.
Secondly, I want to continue to invest in new and emerging technologies that will assist our deputies in solving crimes and making the community safe. I have worked in investigations for approximately 18 of my almost 27 years of service and have seen firsthand how technology changes how police conduct investigations and how the solvability rates skyrocket when newer technology is used. For almost two decades, the solvability rates for homicide investigations for the Will County Sheriff’s Office hovered between 50% to 60%. Now we have an 88% solvability rate for homicide investigations. Advancements in DNA technologies, Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology, drones, and evidence processing equipment have been instrumental in the increased solvability crime rates.
Third, I want to continue to be aggressive in obtaining grant funding for additional personnel, programs, and equipment to help lessen the burden of using taxpayer dollars to fund public safety. For the last several years as Deputy Chief of Special Operations I have written and helped obtain numerous grants that were funded by both private donations and state and federal funding. These grants helped modernize equipment, provided services to victims, and enhanced public safety. In addition, under my leadership I have obtained well over $1,000,000 dollars in equipment from various government programs that have helped to strengthen the sheriff’s office and public safety throughout the county. I want to continue this approach not just at the level of Special Operations of Enforcement but to the entire Will County Sheriff’s Office.
How would you rate how the sheriff’s office handles calls that are related to mental health crisis?
I think the Will County Sheriff’s Office handles calls related to mental health very well. Every deputy at the Will County Sheriff’s Office receives yearly training on the topic of responding to calls involving people in mental health crisis. For over twenty years, our office has been fortunate to have a clinical social worker working with our deputies to address mental health issues involving community members. In addition, our office has added numerous crisis negotiators to our SWAT team that have been deployed without the use of a tactical team and have resolved cases peacefully. As Deputy Chief of Special Operations, I was instrumental in adding a second social worker to assist our department in addressing the mental health crisis. The social workers follow up with family members in getting loved one’s treatment, assist in victim advocacy, and provide citizens with resources for many other needs. Furthermore, we have mandated that all employees that are involved in critical incidents undergo Critical Incident Debriefs with a social worker and peers from the City of Joliet’s social service team. I am also currently spearheading a peer support program at the Sheriff’s Office that is in the early stages of development.
Does the sheriff’s office need more staffing resources outside of law enforcement to effectively respond to these situations?
Right now, we have two full-time social workers that assist our deputies in providing resources to our citizens. In addition, we have two additional civilian personnel that are paid through grant funding that are assigned to the Will County Social Service Unit. One of those civilian personnel is also a K9 handler for our comfort care dog, Chase. The Will County Sheriff’s Office is currently at maximum capacity for staffing resources at the Public Safety Complex; however a part-time mobile position could assist our already existing staff in providing services and resources to our community members.
Are SWAT teams an effective response to calls that involve mental health or domestic situations?
SWAT teams are an effective response under certain conditions. Everything is dependent on the situation. SWAT teams are trained much differently than they were twenty years ago. A SWAT teams goal is to always end up in a peaceful resolution before they even arrive on scene. SWAT teams have many other tools, tactics, experience, and training than an average police officer. Our SWAT team is trained to NOT force confrontations in mental health crisis situations and provide other options for peaceful resolutions. If an incident is solely based on a mental health crisis or a domestic situation, a SWAT element would not even be applied. If, however, there was a hostage situation or a threat of violence, a SWAT team element would be applicable.
What is the biggest threat now to public safety for Will County residents?
Overall crime has been on a downward trend, especially violent crimes. Domestic violence crimes and property crimes are the cause of most calls of service for the Will County Sheriff’s Office. But right now, the crimes that are the biggest threat to public safety are financial crimes and crimes involving gangs that come from Cook County and Chicago to commit crimes. Financial crimes, especially against the elderly, are crimes that often involve scams and other methods of theft that were not seen five or ten years ago. Now, criminals can use artificial intelligence to create pictures or movies to make people believe that they are talking to real people. We have seen tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars taken in the blink of an eye, never to be seen again. Not only are many of these types of financial crimes done by total strangers, thousands of miles away, but many of these financial crimes are done by friends, family, and those put in an authority of trust. Secondly, we have seen an increase in crimes being committed by individuals not from this county, but from Cook County and the City of Chicago. Many of these crimes involve stolen cars, guns, robberies, and thefts. All too often a car full of masked gang members come into a town, commit a crime, and are gone before police are even notified. Some of these crimes involved auto theft, shootings, kidnapping, and murder.
What types of ongoing training and tools are needed to help law enforcement respond effectively and safely in its relationship with the public?
The two topics that I truly believe are most important in law enforcement are training and community outreach. The training division that the Will County Sheriff’s Office has is the largest police training division in the county. The Will County Sheriff’s Office training division not only trains our deputies, but many of the other departments throughout the county as well. At our state-of-the-art facility, we have driving simulators, use of force simulators, two shooting ranges, and so much more. The deputies with the Will County Sheriff’s Office are some of the best trained police officers in the State of Illinois. Rarely does training get denied for our deputies to better themselves as police officers. The State has issued training mandates for all police officers. Our deputies do not just meet those requirements, they exceed them. Not only is class work important, but so is the hands-on scenario-based training that our deputies receive. Better trained officers’ equal better relationships with the public and that is why community outreach is also the key. Programs like the citizen’s police academy which offer an insight into law enforcement and the Will County Sheriff’s Office is one thing that covers both topics. Citizens get a taste of what it is like to train like a police officer, obtain a better opinion on what the job entails, and we get to interact with the public to bridge that gap between the sheriff’s office and that of the community.
What do you see as the sheriff’s office’s role in dealing with the Department of Homeland Security, specifically in regards to immigration enforcement and ICE agents?
The Will County Sheriff’s currently has a working relationship with Homeland Security, as we have a Sergeant assigned as a task force officer to Homeland Security Investigations that focuses on illicit drug trafficking. We DO NOT have a working relationship with Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement (ICE), nor have we since the Trust Act was signed into law in 2017. Under my leadership we will continue to abide by the Trust Act and not assist ICE in immigration enforcement issues. The Will County Sheriff’s Office will continue to protect and defend the rights of every citizen in Will County regardless of their immigration status.
Our patrol deputies need to remain aggressive in effecting traffic stops, patrolling high crime areas, and by getting guns off the streets. Task Force Officers and deputies within Special Operations of the Sheriff’s Office target violent offenders, gun trafficking, and gang crime activity that have a direct link to guns and weapons offenses.
How can the sheriff’s office work to stem the availability of guns on the streets?
Educating the public is another key component of keeping guns off the street. All too often we see firearms being stolen from unlocked cars and then later used in other crimes. The biggest trend right now involving guns and gun violence are the fully automatic switches that are being put on guns. These types of guns are being confiscated by officers and used in crimes in an alarming rate. In just a matter of a few seconds, 30 rounds of ammunition can be fired by these perpetrators. As sheriff, I will work with law makers to ensure that tougher gun laws are enacted on firearms like those.
How would you grade the transparency of the sheriff’s department? If improvements are needed, how would you make those changes?
I would grade transparency at the Will County Sheriff’s Office, as needs improvement. Lots of improvements can be made, and we have already begun implementing those changes. We are currently developing a new report management system that automatically keeps track of crime trends. We currently have to manually search the records and filter out the information by hand. This program will automatically compile the data and put it into a graph form so it can be easily understood. This information will be updated real-time and put on the Will County Sheriff’s Office website for the public to see. One of my campaign promises is to make it a policy to release Body Worn Camera (BWC) videos of all Officer Involved Shootings (OIS) within seven days of the incident. In previous years, the Will County Sheriff’s Office has relied solely on the guidance of attorneys with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office or private counsel regarding the release of videos. By making it a policy, it takes the ability out of the hands for attorneys to dictate if a video gets released or not. In addition, as Sheriff, I will always make myself available to the media both in person, by phone, or by zoom for any and all questions. A sheriff is elected by the people and for the people and he also needs to be available to the people.