Boley to challenge Duffy in Hancock County Sheriff primary

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

CARTHAGE - Hancock County Sheriff Travis Duffy, who was appointed upon the retirement of former Sheriff Scott Benzinger, will have a challenger in the June 2022 Illinois primary.

Current Nauvoo Chief of Police Mike Boley announced his intentions on the footsteps of the Hancock County courthouse in August.

Boley has been in law enforcement for the past 17 years in different roles from dispatcher to bailiff, to part-time and full-time officer, all the way up to his current appointment as Chief of Police in Nauvoo in 2017.

He's worked for the city of Nauvoo in law enforcement since his hiring as assistant police chief in 2013.

"I've always considered myself a cop's cop," Boley said Wednesday. "It's not just what I do, but truly who I am."

BOLEY

The Hancock County native said he's had other opportunities in life including real estate and owning his own business, but he said nothing inspires him to get up and go to work like being in law enforcement.

"I've considered other options for opportunities and, quite frankly, they had a lot less stress and were financially better, but the one thing I couldn't fathom was not being able to think of myself as a cop anymore."

He began his career as a dispatcher in Hancock County and always considered himself the young guy looking up at the other folks. Now he said those tables have turned and he wants to help usher in a new age of law enforcement in Hancock County. Boley is also now the longest serving police chief in the county.

"I'm the old guy now and these dispatchers are in their 20s and 30s. There's always turnover and new faces and now these people look to me as the old timer. I don't take that lightly," Boley said.

He said small police departments like Nauvoo will probably be a thing of the past in the near future. Consolidation and the direction of the state will likely force the smaller units into large units to capitalize on efficiencies.

Boley said that's not just a financial remedy for some areas, but a manpower reality.

"There aren't the people lining up to do this kind of work like there used to be 10 and 20 years ago," he said. "Being able to find qualified candidates that can and should be doing this job is tough. I don't see the Nauvoo Police Department being sustainable for another 18 years so I started thinking about what I wanted to do with the next 17 years of my career."

Boley is a member of the Hancock County Republican Central Committee and said he received encouragement from the party and other law enforcement officers to run for the office.

"A lot of people assumed I would be throwing my name in there, but initially I declined. The Sheriff had appointed Travis so he had somebody lined up and the deputies seemed to be in favor of it. I'm not about upsetting the apple cart or anything, so I just respectfully declined."

But he said the only thing that would possibly change his mind was if people approached him about running, and they did. He said it was after a lengthy amount of soul searching and discussing the idea with his wife that he decided to turn in papers.

He said Illinois is going through a tough transition with legislation and the court systems and his experience can help cut through some of that process.

Several legislative mandates are coming through the state that will impact law enforcement. He said mandatory implementation of body cameras and qualified immunity are going to be two big issues facing Hancock County.

Boley said he fully supports the use of body cameras saying it takes the "he-said, she-said" out of the process. But he said it will have a financial impact on the county that needs navigated.

"We can find grants to pay for the cameras, but you have to have software and server space and training. There's additional work involved in that. If someone requests access then you have to redact personal information and clean it up. There's software for that, but that, coupled with server space, it carries a very steep price."

Efforts to tweak qualified immunity also puts public safety at risk, he said.

"Some people think it's used by bad cops to get away with things they shouldn't, but 99 out of 100 times it's protecting good people trying to do their job. If Illinois does away with that, I'm not sure you would have any cops left," he said.

"It's not worth us losing everything we have when we go out there every day to make a difference. We have to make split-second decisions."

Boley said he has good relationships with neighboring agencies including the Illinois State Police and that cooperation is needed going forward.

"We're stronger as one than individually and we're all working toward a goal to keep communities safe and put bad guys in jail."

The primary in Illinois will be June 28 and both Duffy and Boley are registered Republicans. Boley said he hasn't heard of any Democrats running for the office yet, so it could be a primary election for the seat.

election, Hancock County, Mike Boley, Pen City Current, primary, sheriff, Travis Duffy

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