(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The sheriff of DeKalb County, Roger Scott, is retiring in three weeks, after 36 years as sheriff and more than 52 years with the department.
It was March 1985 when Scott took over as sheriff of DeKalb County, which today is considered part of the western suburbs. WBBM Newsradio on Wednesday asked him about the early days.
“It’s ironic that you called today. Because June 2, 1985, I’d been sheriff for just three months and we had the kidnapping and murder of a little girl named Melissa Ackerman,” he said.
Scott says 7-year-old Melissa Ackerman’s murder was “a heartache.”
“It sort of set the tone for measuring how bad things get by remembering those weeks.”
Sheriff Scott’s written statement about his retirement says, “I do not leave because of the foolishness of the Democratic led state legislature under the guise of ‘police reform.’"
“Each day the law enforcement guys report for duty they do accomplish good, but it’s often overlooked or overshadowed by the difficult, bad things that happen.”
Sheriff Scott, 74, joined the department as a deputy in January 1969. His last day is June 22.