* The Sangamon County sheriff’s contest is among 25 races nationwide that Bolts Magazine says could help reshape criminal justice reform…

After a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Sonya Massey in 2024, sparking nationwide protest and the resignation of the local sheriff, a citizen commission met for over a year to discuss how to prevent future tragedies, Bolts reported last year. The panel released a final report in late 2025 that recommended dozens of reforms to transform policing and mental health services in the county, for instance dispatching civilian teams to respond to some emergency calls.

Now, voters this fall are electing their sheriff, who will be in charge of actually implementing many of these changes. Republican Paula Crouch, who was appointed sheriff by county officials after Massey’s murder, faces Democratic challenger Marc Bell.

Bell told Bolts that he was impressed by the Massey Commission and “looked forward to moving some of their suggestions forward,” though he did not name a particular policy he wanted to implement when asked for specifics. To a follow-up query about whether he’d favor setting up a civilian panel with power to subpoena the sheriff’s office, a key demand of the commission, he said he “wouldn’t have a problem with it”; Bell currently sits on a police that is tasked with oversight over Springfield’s municipal police but lacks the power to actually investigate misconduct.

Sunshine Clemons, a member of the Massey Commission and co-founder of the Springfield Black Lives Matter chapter, told Bolts that local officials, including the appointed sheriff, have shared verbal support for the calls to action, but that there’s been little by way of concrete changes over the last year. Crouch’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

“What I’m looking for in our next sheriff is someone who doesn’t just say, ‘Yes, these are important,’ but actually has a strategic plan to implement these calls to action,” Clemons told Bolts. “We’re well past the time of words and platitude.” She hopes the sheriff’s office starts releasing ongoing updates about how they’re actually acting on last year’s recommendations. In the meantime, she and other former members of the Massey Commission launched a new coalition this summer that they hope can continue to pressure the county to make reforms.

* Capitol City Now…

Democrat Marc Bell, a former Illinois State Police master sergeant who exited the race and then re-entered it, joined [Sheriff Paula Crouch] for a debate Sunday at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, sponsored by the Committee of Springfield, Illinois.

A frequent theme of Bell’s remarks is what he sees as an entrenched “good ol’ boy” system in the Republican-dominated county. He answered a question about Sean Grayson, the deputy with a checkered personal and professional history who killed Sonya Massey two years ago, by saying, “You know when you have a bad actor. Sean was hired because he was somebody’s friend. That will not happen on my watch.” For her part, Crouch said the department has not hired anyone with a DUI conviction (Grayson had two) since she has been sheriff.

* Related…

* Illinois Times | David Timm, Republican candidate who lost March primary, throws support behind Democrat Marc Bell for sheriff: Timm, a former sheriff’s deputy who received about 46% of the roughly 17,000 ballots cast in the March primary, announced on social media the day before the fundraiser that he’s supporting the Democratic challenger in the November general election over his own party’s candidate, incumbent Sheriff Paula Crouch. “I will always do what’s best for Sangamon County, and I truly believe that this is what’s best… this is what we need,” Timm told Illinois Times. “I hope everybody jumps on board with something that hasn’t happened since 1974 – a Democrat sheriff – let alone a Republican candidate working with him to do what’s right.”