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Special recognition of Mark C. Curran Jr. for his years of service as Lake County Sheriff.
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SPECIAL RECOGNITION
WHEREAS, Mark C. Curran, Jr. was elected Sheriff in November 2006 to serve the residents of Lake County; and
WHEREAS, Mark C. Curran, Jr. earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law; and
WHEREAS, Mark C. Curran, Jr. served eight years as an assistant Lake County state’s attorney. As an experienced prosecutor and defense attorney, Mark C. Curran, Jr. held a keen understanding of criminal and civil law, individual rights, and presented new approaches in reducing recidivism in the Lake County Jail; and
WHEREAS, during his first year in office, Mark C. Curran, Jr. implemented the School Safety Team and in 2015, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office led the largest simulated school shooting exercise in the county’s history; and
WHEREAS, Mark C. Curran, Jr. implemented budgetary changes to ensure fiscal responsibility. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office was under budget for 12 consecutive years, leveraging federal grants to implement the body-worn camera initiative and expanding Crisis Intervention Training to its staff and local law enforcement agencies, and securing local funds for K9 related expenditures; and
WHEREAS, Mark C. Curran, Jr. created a law enforcement collaborative, now recognized as the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement Community Policing Coordinating Council, which resulted in securing funding from the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge for the Lake County Jail’s High Utilizer Program and additional strategies aimed at reducing the jail population; and
WHEREAS, under Mark C. Curran, Jr.’s leadership, the Sheriff’s Office achieved accreditation from the American Correctional Association and National Commission on Correctional Health Care, the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP), and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), which led to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office achieving “Triple Crown” status with the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA) on October 11, 2018; and
WHEREAS, Mark C. Curran, Jr. served as an outspoken proponent of immigration reform, serving on the board of the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force; Bibles, Badges and Business; the Catholic Archdiocese Office of Human Dignity; and the Solidarity-Immigration Ministry; and
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RECOGNIZED, that this County Board of Lake County, Illinois, offers its sincere gratitude and appreciation to Mark C. Curran, Jr. for his outstanding and dedicated public service to his community and to the citizens of Lake County as the Lake County Sheriff; and
BE IT FURTHER RECOGNIZED, that the County Board offers its best wishes to Mark C. Curran, Jr. in all his future endeavors.
DATED at Waukegan, Illinois on January 15, 2019.