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Lincoln Daily News
520 Broadway Street
Lincoln, IL 62656
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To the Editor:
The primary duty of any public law enforcement administrator is to
ensure that agency personnel operate in complete compliance with
statutory and constitutional laws of the State of Illinois. Public
safety and transparency require an ongoing evaluation of local
training and compliance standards.
On July 28, 2026, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office issued a
final unappealable enforcement determination under Case No.
2025SW00017, mandating five extensive recommendations for the Logan
County Sheriff’s Department. This order required an institutional
overhaul of the departments Sexual Assault Incident Policy, the
immediate implementation of supervisor tracking controls, and
mandatory crime victim’s rights training directly with the Office of
the Attorney General. The state’s findings revealed that responding
personnel were operating out of compliance with the triennial
trauma-informed response mandates required under the Illinois Police
Training Act, deeply impacting a minor sexual assault victim from a
neighboring county.
[to top of second column in this letter] |
What the community must evaluate is
that Lieutenant Michael Block was the administrator assigned to
investigate our formal misconduct complaint against the department.
While his internal review issued an administrative clearance of “no
wrongdoing,” the Illinois Attorney General concurrently arrived at
the exact opposite conclusion, formally finding the agency’s actions
unconstitutional.
A local law enforcement agency cannot
operate effectively if its command structure chooses to challenge,
rubber stamp, or delay state-level constitutional protections.
Ensuring public transparency is a fundamental requirement of
regional public safety. Logan County residents deserve clean,
verifiable answers regarding how their leadership intends to bring
local law enforcement operations into complete alignment with state
law.
Sincerely,
Lonnie & Robin Nichols
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