Waukegan Exchange Club Honors Command Officer and Deputy of the Year

On April 8, 2014 the Waukegan Exchange Club held their annual presentations for Command Officer of the Year and Deputy of the Year.  Sergeant Tom Struck and Sergeant Andrea Usry were nominated for Command Officer of the Year.  Deputies Joseph JR Halek, Jason Plichta, Keith Kaiser, and Robert Tiedje were nominated for Deputy of the Year.  The Waukegan Exchange Club awarded Sergeant Andrea Usry Command Officer of the Year and Deputy Robert Tiedje Deputy of the Year.

Sergeant Andrea Usry spent 10 years as a juvenile investigator in the Criminal Investigations Division.  She was promoted to Sergeant where she served on the midnight shift of the Highway Patrol.  Upon completion of her tour on the midnight shift she became a Sergeant in the Criminal Investigations Division where she currently supervises 25 investigators.  Her concentration is juvenile investigations. 

As a juvenile officer, Sergeant Usry is responsible as the lead supervisor for the School Safety Team which includes forty-five schools in the unincorporated jurisdictions.  Some of the responsibilities of the School Safety Team include training schools with emergency procedures such as performing lockdown safety drills and educating them in development of safety plans.  Her partnership with the schools has been invaluable.  

Sergeant Usry is on the committee of the Underage Drinking and Drug Task Force which is a multi-jurisdictional group that combats the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors.  Her career development and focus has been to give a voice to juvenile and female victims.  Sergeant Usry has been a great asset to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office team.

Deputy Robert Tiedje has been assigned to the Highway Patrol Division, Warrants Division, and Training Division and is currently the Senior Training Instructor responsible for training every division of the Sheriff’s Office.  Deputy Tiedje is a member of the Tactical Response Team, a team Leader for the Snipers on the team, and is on the committee for firearms selection. 

When training mixed groups, he takes the time and effort to fully explain topics that may be unfamiliar to his audience.  He is very enthusiastic about his duties in the training division and enjoys teaching people of various rank, experience, and backgrounds.  During his training programs, he brings humor to dry topics, asks challenging and thought provoking questions, and encourages group participation.  He readily welcomes questions and suggestions to improve the training programs. 

Deputy Tiedje lives by the motto “Doing the right think is not always the easy thing.”  His level of integrity, principles, and moral character is one of the highest within the Sheriff’s Office.  He requires very little supervision and when given an assignment he runs with the project until he sees it through in a timely fashion. 

End of Release.