Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs tells Senate committee it needs staff, IT and paralegals to reduce caseloads

Tim Lueders Guman, executive director of the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, told the Senate Government Operations Committee on Jan. 16 that the department supports 28 elected officials and a field staff spread across the state and is seeking additional personnel and technical support to handle a heavy and growing workload.

"Think about the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs as the administrative department over the elected 14 state's attorneys and 14 sheriffs," the department overview said in testimony to the committee. Guman and Tracy Patnaud, the department's director of sheriffs operations, briefed the committee on structure, budgets and operational pressures.

Guman said the central office supports roughly 175 employees across four budget sections: state's attorneys, victim advocates, sheriffs and special investigation unit grants. He told the committee the department had about 23,000 pending cases as of Dec. 10…