Operation Stonegarden supports cooperation between local law enforcement and border patrol
On a recent Cook County Board of Commissioners meeting consent agenda, the board opted to accept a federal grant through Operation Stonegarden on behalf of the Sheriff’s Department.
Operation Stonegarden is a federally funded grant program through the Department of Homeland Security. Law enforcement agencies that qualify for the grants assist border patrol in their role enforcing border crossing policies. Counties in proximity to borders (Tier 1 counties like Cook County share the international border) can apply for grant funding, and according to Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen, that money can be used to pay deputies for the extra patrols and to purchase equipment for the department.
Eliasen explained that there are parameters around what the grant can be used to pay for, beyond the pay for deputies doing the patrols. He said, “You can’t buy weapons, you can’t buy ammo…We couldn’t use that money to put up a new building. We can’t use it for, for, you know, things like that. What we can use it for, and we have used it for in the past, is we’ve bought squad cars. We’ve bought snowmobiles ATVs, just general equipment that the deputies use, you know, rain suits, first aid kits, spotting scopes.” Eliasen described these items as things that could be used for remote work or which deputies might use while monitoring the border.
The department is currently waiting on equipment paid for by another state grant. Specifically, four total boats that would be kept in Grand Marais and Grand Portage (two in each harbor). Eliasen’s office worked with the Grand Portage Reservation Tribal Council to secure funding for the boats following the decommissioning of the Coast Guard Station in Grand Marais. Eliasen said, “It was the the first collaboration of its kind in the United States, where a tribe and a law enforcement agency collaborated to basically pick up the pieces of another entity that just walked away.”
The sheriff added that the boats are currently being built, and that he doesn’t expect to actually receive them for about a year. The next step, which, according to Eliasen, the state lobbyist for Grand Portage has been working on, is securing funding to help cover the cost of training and staffing the marine unit. Eliasen described staffing as “the fly in the ointment.”
The staffing issues around the future marine unit are on top of the existing problems with staffing in the department. The Cook County Sheriff’s Department is chronically understaffed. Eliasen said that at this time they are still seeking two additional deputies and one more telecommunicator/jailer in order to be fully staffed. In addition, the Investigator position that was created earlier this year is vacant again, as Leif Lunde, who originally filled the role, moved into the Chief Deputy job. Eliasen said that at this time the department’s priority is to fill the openings for deputies, and then continue working to fill the investigator position.
WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen about the Operation Stonegarden grant and staffing in his office. Audio of that interview is below.
Kirsten Wisniewski August 31, 2024
