Sheriff John D. Idleburg has created trust, increased transparency, and prioritized safety for Lake County.
Sheriff John D. Idleburg has created trust, increased transparency, and prioritized safety for Lake County.
Community Trust
Sheriff John D. Idleburg has successfully worked towards increasing the community’s trust while being responsive to the expectations of law enforcement during a critical time in our country. As a result, Governor Pritzker, appointed him to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board which oversees the training and continuing education of all law enforcement across the state.
Community Safety
Sheriff John D. Idleburg has dedicated resources to aggressively pursue trafficking in all its forms (guns, human, drugs) to keep our community safe. As a result, Sheriff Idleburg’s Special Investigations Group has set new records in 2020 seizing nearly $3 million worth of illegal drugs and 55 illegally possessed firearms which resulted in a total of 350 felony charges.
Community Partnership
Sheriff John D. Idleburg developed and launched a Criminal Justice Community Council to provide an ongoing collaborative forum between community members, organizations and criminal justice government representatives. The goal is to strengthen community-law enforcement partnerships, ensuring community members have a voice in the criminal justice space, and enable collaboration in addressing criminal justice issues. Sheriff Idleburg embraces the philosophy that the community and the community’s voice always set the guiding principles of our criminal justice system.
Sheriff John D. Idleburg – A History of Serving
Sheriff John D. Idleburg attended Zion Benton High School and after graduating, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. After Idleburg completed his service he returned to Zion, where he was a union worker at Johnson Motors, and in 1977 left to join the Lake County Sheriff’s Office as a Sheriff’s Deputy in the Work Release Camp in Zion. Always looking ahead for a better future for his family, he left the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for the Great Lakes Police Department. He rapidly went from a street cop to the detective bureau.
Sheriff John D. Idleburg steadily rose up the ranks and being acknowledged for his hard work he was invited to work with the U.S. Department of Defense as a Special Investigator. After several years of dedicated work, he joined the U.S. Treasury Department as a Special Agent.
After three decades of federal service and union participation, Idleburg retired. He enjoyed retirement for a few months but decided to go back to work joining the Lake County Forest Preserve, Zion Park Police and Lake Forest Hospital. He served as Post Commander for the American Legion Zion Post 865 for 4 years. He is the past President of the Illinois Police Association, current Commissioner for the Police and Fire Commission in Zion and the Lake County Housing Authority. Sheriff John D. Idleburg resides in Zion with his wife, Pam, and is a proud father and grandfather.