Lake County Gazette

Set to soon embark on his eighth term, recently re-elected Vernon Hills Mayor Roger Byrne faces a full range of issues requiring his immediate attention.

Chief among them is the unwinding case of former Vernon Hills Deputy Chief of Police Patrick Zimmerman, who now faces at least two felony counts of official misconduct after being accused of falsifying records related to the Sustained Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP). A grand jury has been convened to investigate.

The program, administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and implemented across the state, doled out grants to local police departments to compensate for police officers’ additional time spent on traffic enforcement. 

Zimmerman, who officially resigned from the department last year, was reportedly paid in excess of $4,000 based on alleged false traffic citations he had written. No tickets were forwarded in connection with the records suspected to be false, and no motorists were affected.

“We must hold our police officers to the highest standards,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a recent press release. “While we acknowledge Zimmerman’s 26 years as a police officer, our duty to the law demands that we bring these charges and inform the public about the misuse of taxpayer funds.”

Byrne topped Brian Lohse with nearly 59% of the vote. Joining him in the winner’s circle were four-year trustee incumbents Craig Takaoka, and Thomas Koch, and two-year trustee Nancy Forster, who ran unopposed.