Lake County Sheriff's Office

Waukegan is home base for the Lake County Sheriff's Office in northeastern Illinois, whose Operations Division answers emergencies, investigates crime and tracks down offenders, largely in unincorporated parts of the county. Its detectives handle cases such as a 2026 firearms arrest built on phone data extracted with the State's Attorney's Cyber Lab, and the office's Internet Crimes Against Children team works tips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, including an October 2026 case involving AI-generated abuse material. Traffic crash investigators take fatal and serious collisions, and K9 teams support patrol searches. The Administrative Division supplies training and records and carries the statutory duties of courtroom security and serving criminal warrants and civil process, while warrants issued by the Lake County Circuit Court stay active until the subject is caught or a judge cancels them. A Corrections Division runs the county jail, with some inmates temporarily housed in McHenry County. Through the A Way Out program, people struggling with addiction can ask the office for help getting into treatment without being criminally charged, and a Citizen Police Academy gives residents a hands-on look at the office.