McLean County approves school resource officer agreement, K9 partnership; sheriff to join regional human-trafficking task force

McLean County Sheriff Matt Lane told the Justice Committee on July 9 that the committee approved an intergovernmental agreement with Tri-Valley Community Unit School District 3 to place a deputy as a school resource officer beginning in August, if approved by the board.

Lane said the agreement is modeled on the department’s Olympia School District contract and that the district and county wanted the deputy to be familiar with the school and administration before classes start. He said Tri-Valley had an SRO 15–20 years ago but the placement ended and the district is “very eager” to reestablish the position.

The committee also approved a partnership agreement between McLean County and Deputy/Handler Matthew Proctor related to K9 Daisy. Lane described the written agreement as “a long time coming” and said Proctor trained and certified Daisy on his own time and that Daisy has been a morale booster for inmates and staff.

On information items, Lane said he is in verbal agreement with the Illinois State Police and Decatur Police Department to join a statewide human-trafficking task force. He said Decatur has completed its approval and Lane is reviewing the document and “is intending on signing it.” He emphasized the task force is not expected to create a new county-paid position; rather, he said he would assign an existing deputy to the task force and that personnel assigned would likely be sworn in as State Police inspectors with statewide jurisdiction. Lane said the task force will provide training, investigative tools and equipment and that he saw “nothing but good things coming from this task force.”

Committee members asked for clarification that the task force agreement would be an interagency cooperative assignment rather than adding county staffing obligations; Lane said the county would not necessarily have a financial responsibility tied to the agreement and that many resources will be supplied by the task force.

Why it matters: The SRO placement affects school safety and local law-enforcement presence in Tri-Valley schools; the K9 partnership formalizes the county’s arrangement with a handler and canine that are already in use. Joining the human-trafficking task force would give McLean County access to statewide investigative resources and training but also would place a deputy under broader-state authority for task-force operations.

All three items were approved or described to the committee; the human-trafficking agreement had not been signed at the time of the meeting and remains under review.