Will County sheriff—s office reports lower daily jail population, higher arrests and large drug seizures in 2024

Deputy Chief Dan Jungels of the Will County Sheriff—s Office presented the department—s 2024 statistics to the Will County Public Health & Safety Committee, reporting an average daily adult detention population of just over 465 inmates and saying that figure is roughly 45 inmates lower than before the SAFETY Act.

The presentation covered intake and release volumes, daily population highs and lows, crime categories, traffic enforcement, canine and interdiction operations, fugitive apprehensions, criminal investigations workload, and evidence-handling burdens. Jungels said the office processed just north of 5,900 intakes in 2024 and released about 5,900 people, a net increase of 36 intakes over releases. He gave a maximum jail population of 526 and a minimum of 421 for the year.

Why it matters: the statistics reflect how changes in state law and enforcement practice are reshaping jail occupancy, deputies— workloads and evidence-processing needs, and they document large drug and currency seizures that county and federal partners are relying on for prosecutions.

Jungels summarized crime trends for unincorporated Will County: overall crime declined about 3.93% year‑over‑year, crimes against persons rose 1.8% (with homicides in the unincorporated county increasing from two to four), crimes against property fell 7.5%, and crimes against society fell 13.73%. He cautioned that percentage changes can be misleading for small absolute counts and said some FBI crime categories do not match Illinois statutory phrasing.

Traffic and overweight-truck enforcement drew attention: Jungels said overweight-truck fines totaled just north of $519,000 in 2024 and the traffic unit issued roughly 3,000 citations. He told committee members the sheriff—s office has added full‑time personnel devoted to overweight enforcement and expects the revenue figure to rise in 2025.

On interdiction and narcotics work, Jungels said the sheriff—s dogs and task forces located significant quantities: the K‑9 teams and interdiction partners recovered more than $410,000 in currency in some operations and the federal task forces reported multimillion-dollar cash seizures. He noted large fentanyl seizures and told the committee that, in previous years, he calculated seized amounts could translate to staggeringly high numbers of potential overdoses.

Jungels said the county—s criminal investigations unit saw a jump in assignments: detectives were assigned 1,788 cases in 2024 versus 542 the year before, and closure rates for homicide investigations have improved in recent years, which he attributed in part to technology such as license‑plate readers and phone and video forensics.

Committee members asked several operational questions. Julie Berkowitz asked about recidivism and crime-type breakdowns; Jungels said the jail maintains arrest charges but the presentation did not include a recidivism rate. Committee members asked how lower daily population affected overtime and staffing; Jungels said forced overtime has declined because fewer beds are filled and more staff are working voluntary overtime instead of being mandated to stay over long shifts.

Members and Jungels discussed legislative impacts. Jungels described both benefits and consequences of the SAFETY Act and other pending laws, and he and committee members referenced bills the Illinois Sheriffs Association is monitoring. He also described Karina—s Act (a measure that can permit judges to attach a search warrant to some orders of protection so weapons can be removed) and warned that implementation may require additional planning and personnel because search warrants carry elevated risk for officers.

Jungels described the county—s evidence and body‑camera workload: the office has multiple staff who redact body‑worn camera footage and spent tens of thousands of minutes redacting hundreds of videos in 2024, which he said imposes a significant time and cost burden, and he noted FOIA timelines constrain how quickly redactions must be completed.

He reviewed social-service efforts tied to substance-use deflection work: the sheriff—s social-service unit followed up with 109 individuals under a new deflection grant started Aug. 1, 2024, and provided referrals and small supports such as clothing and transportation assistance. The office also has a new peer‑to‑peer program for officer mental health pending state training approval.

The presentation included SWAT activation, fugitive‑apprehension and extradition work (the department logged more than 11,000 air miles to retrieve 30 individuals with outstanding warrants), and the role of federal partners such as the U.S. Marshals Service and DEA in large investigations.

Committee members thanked Jungels and asked for copies of the FBI submission and the full report; Jungels said he could provide the document submitted to the FBI and that the department is pursuing automated analytics to reduce manual data crunching.

Ending: Jungels said he would forward the detailed report and legislative items the committee asked to consider for the county—s legislative agenda.