Fifteen Correctional Deputies and a dozen Patrol Deputies serve the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office. One of their most important tasks is to serve civil papers. Deputies also make traffic stops; assist with missing persons, rescue, accidents, deaths, and crimes; aid the public in a variety of ways. Three relatively new Patrol hires are on duty under the leadership of Sheriff Kelly Wilhelmi. One also will be hired part-time by Morrison Police Department when her probation period ends.
Deputy Allie Deyo is a full-time Whiteside County Deputy Sheriff Patrol Deputy who resides in Morrison, IL. She began her duties on Wednesday, December 17, 2014. “I want one day to become a detective. I am getting through my first year, learning all I can, taking calls. My job’s awesome!” Deputy Deyo stated.
On Tuesday, October 6, 2015, she began, “I love pretty much every aspect of my job. You get to roam in a squad and patrol around the County” while you “handle your calls.” There is no Deputy partner. “I’m by myself.” She added, “I feel that all my calls are gratifying, [because someone] called me. [Residents] called us for a reason. I am glad to be a person who can investigate and call around [for additional information.]” In summary, “I like the variety,” said Deputy Deyo.
She joked, “When I get off probation, I can’t be fired at will.” She also may work with “other [law enforcement] departments[, specifically,] as a Morrison Police Officer.” Deputy Deyo was asked by Chief of Police Brian Melton and his employees. “It’s customary to do part-time work in other towns’ Police Departments. This job is in place to happen” in December 2015, when probation ends. “Working for Morrison, you can pick your days.” She will become a Morrison Peace Officer “on whatever my days off are.”
“It means a lot that I was able to get this job at Whiteside County and to be able to work for Morrison,” the new Deputy concluded.
Chief Melton “selected [Deputy Sheriff Deyo] for part-time work, because she liked to work and [to] get experience. She may work as much as she wants, [but there] may be months when she doesn’t work at all. It will change from month-to-month,” he said. “Hours vary as needed.” In addition, by contract “any vacant shift has to be offered to full-timers first.”
He “looked for other officers that would fit into our community.” Currently there are three part-time or retired County Deputies who also wear the Morrison Police Department uniform and drive Morrison squads. They are Roger Drey, Jed Renkes, and Chris Schmidt.
A fourth part-time Morrison employee is Tim Palen, Carbon Cliff, IL, a village in Rock Island County. He does not work for the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Department, but “was an attorney with the Whiteside County States Attorney Office. He has always been certified as a Peace Officer…for the State of Illinois.” Even though his home is a distance away, Officer Palen is “interested…, has friends here, and works on longer shifts,” explained Chief Melton.
Deputy Sean Coutts is from Sterling, IL. He was interviewed Saturday, September 12, 2015, at the conclusion of the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office and Mounted Patrol Youth Fishing Derby, at Lake Carlton. This is his first time working the event.
He has been employed as a Deputy since 2013. His 12-hour shifts–like all Patrol Deputies’–are from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and rotate, with a start at 6:00 p.m. and an end at 6:00 a.m.
In the future, “I’d like to take some sort of special assignment,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to be a U. S. Marshall by the end of my career.”
Deputy Coutts previously worked “about one year for the Oregon Park Police Department. I started in the Maintenance Garage at the park. Vandals destroyed what I had worked on. I wanted to be the guy to keep that from happening.”
“I started getting to know the area Police Departments and the camaraderie they have. It seemed like something I’d like to get involved in. Plus, it’s fun.”
When asked if he has experienced situations that posed a risk, he replied, “There have been a few times I have had an adrenaline rush!”
“The Deputies, Sergeants, and the guys I work with” have helped develop Deputy Coutts’s skill set.
“I wouldn’t be the officer I am without them,” he concluded. Additionally, he added, Sheriff Kelly Wilhelmi “is a nice guy.”
Deputy Jake Kilberg of Rock Falls, IL, celebrated his 29th birthday on the day of his interview, Wednesday, October 7, 2015. He became a Sheriff’s Deputy February 23, 2010, and worked on the jail floor for 2.5 years. His last three years were spent “on the road” (on patrol.) He was 23 when he started, which is “pretty young to be put on the road.”
Professional goals are to become a “Sergeant or [hold] an administrative position down the way.” The latter would include being a Lieutenant, Chief Deputy, or Whiteside County Sheriff.
Wife Betony is a Rock Falls Police Officer. They have the same 12-hour shifts, which rotate from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. within a month and vice versa. The couple shares the same days off. “You can see your whole schedule for the year. You only work half a year, due to the days you get off, and you work with the same people,” Deputy Kilberg cited as advantages to his career.
A predictable schedule also allowed the Kilbergs to celebrate the 21st birthday of a friend and Jake’s in Nashville, TN, on the weekend. This former K-12 Physical Education and Health teacher uses days off to referee college and high school basketball games. “I make about the same [money as from my Deputy duties] in less time.” This is his 13th year being a game official. He “started with grade school teams at age 16 [and] reffed at 18 for [his] classmates.”
Deputy Kilberg has time to play golf spring through fall; he attended Monmouth College in Monmouth, IL, on a golf scholarship. On days off, “normally I’m golfing,” he stated.
“Fifty percent of the job is doing paperwork. Report writing can get tiring,” he admitted. “The Sheriff will hire due to retirements. Normally there are three on a shift,” who patrol four zones in the County. Rock Falls and Sterling, IL, each have a Deputy assigned to patrol; the west end zones, 3 and 4, are covered by one Patrolman. “Yorktown Road is the dividing line. You have to serve civil papers. You may drive into a spot that has trouble; we back up each other in an emergency. You can park and observe. There are no ‘speed traps’ in place for radar and no quotas on [writing] tickets. I have to ‘stop and chat’ with someone [who is] speeding. If I write someone a ticket, it’s because they talked themselves into it!”
His worst day on the job was when “I had to go to my first fatality. That was a bad one.” He was alone. “You roll up and see the person, and they’re not breathing. You know they’re dead, and the adrenaline [kicks in.] You start double and triple checking.”
Deputy Kilberg’s best day on the job involved a “bad stabbing in Sterling. My boss and I ended up catching the guy on the Avenue G bridge. [We] saw two guns on him.”