Emergency response and staffing updates from the sheriff’s department

As summer winds down in Cook County, the sheriff’s department is wrapping up their own busy season. Sheriff Pat Eliasen told WTIP about the efforts this summer, and upcoming changes.

Search and rescue responses

Every summer the department fields calls for emergency assistance, including for serious or novel situations. Two recent 911 texts caught responders’ attention, especially, when they reported someone being on fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).

Eliasen explained that they now know that those 911 texts were sent as the result of a glitch in an emergency reporting feature originally created by Apple to allow iPhone users to quickly access emergency services during a fire event in Colorado. When they first received the 911 texts reporting someone being on fire, however, dispatch reacted as usual, paging out all of the appropriate services, including Search and Rescue (SAR).

While Eliasen said that a false alarm is good, the glitch comes with a cost. He said, “You’ve used up all these resources, and all of these people are typically volunteers. And they have left work, they’ve left their families…There are many hazards in the wilderness, and somebody can get hurt very easily out there.”

Eliasen added that Apple is working to address this glitch to prevent further erroneous 911 reports.

Though the volunteer hours do not cost the sheriff’s department, Eliasen said that calls like those that send responders deep into the BWCAW, or which take long stretches of time, still use county resources, and put volunteers in potentially dangerous positions.

Staffing updates

Keeping law enforcement departments staffed has become increasingly difficult in recent years, and it is no different in the Arrowhead. At the end of the year, the Cook County will see some additional turnover as Cheif Deputy Leif Lunde prepares to retire. When he leaves in January, Eliasen said that Ben Hallberg, the current jail administrator, would move into the chief deputy position.

The county is working to select someone to fill the jail administrator role when Hallberg vacates it. At the same time, Eliasen said they also have three open deputy positions. He said that they have received some applications, and are hoping to get those vacancies filled, as well.

WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke to Sheriff Pat Eliasen about SAR, cyber security, staffing changes, and an update on the Law Enforcement Center project. Audio of the interview is below.

Kirsten Wisniewski September 5, 2025