Crystal Lake PD handles arrest professionally, politely

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
August 8, 2011

Recently a Crystal Lake police officer observed a woman driver who was not wearing her seatbelt. Upon stopping her, he was inclined to give her a warning, but it turned out there was a warrant for her arrest.

It seems that back in 2007 she had failed to appear in court after getting a ticket for driving on suspended plates. The warrant was issued in 2007. Follow the dots here...

On 9/13/2007 she was issued the ticket.

Her first court date was 9/14/2007. See anything wrong so far?

In court records for 9/14/2007 is entered "Notice - Wrong Court Date" Duh.....

Oh, yes, and the Marengo officer spelled her last name wrong.

She would have been sent a letter with the next court date (10/25/2007). She never got the letter, because she may not have updated her address records for her driver's license or plates.

And that would be why she didn't know her license plates had been suspended. Apparently her husband had blown past a number of toll booths without paying. The Illinois Tollway may have sent violation notices, but she never got them. So the Tollway, through its cozy arrangement with the State of Illinois, arranged for her plates to be suspended. And that eventually led to the 9/13/2007 ticket (and the wrong-court-date letter to the old address).

So the Crystal Lake cop had no choice but to take her into custody, which he did with courtesy and professionalism.

Now, get this. He even let her park her car, instead of towing it. What a novel idea - to be nice to the person you are arresting and not needlessly cause them to cough up $100 for towing. Where possible, all departments should be so courteous.

Where was this terrible offender all this time? Living and working right in McHenry County. Even working for McHenry County. Hiding right in plain sight. Not even knowing that she was "hiding." Which she wasn't.

Who is really managing to pile of unserved warrants at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department? How many unserved warrants are there? How old is the oldest? Is there a spreadsheet at the Sheriff's Department, showing how many (hundreds?) warrants are outstanding? Do they work the most-serious first, or the oldest? In how many cases would five minutes at a computer or on the phone, and a letter and a 44¢ stamp, get the wanted person back to court?

When this woman's warrant finally got to the top of the pile in three-four more years, would a six-man SWAT team have been dispatched to surround her house with drawn guns and haul her away?