The Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office hired now former deputy Sean Grayson despite his history of policing at five other police departments in 3 years, serious misconduct in the military and integrity issues at former jobs.
Experts say this combination of issues should have been a glaring warning about Grayson as a candidate.
“In this particular circumstance, there were enough red flags or things that you go, wow, there’s a problem here,” said Chris Burbank, a former longtime chief of the Salt Lake City Police Department.
In an interview conducted August 1, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell defended his agency’s vetting of Grayson. Campbell, 60, has said he won’t resign amid public criticism in the wake of the shooting death of Sonya Massey, a Black woman, at the hand of Grayson, who is white.
Grayson has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct after shooting and killing Massey in her home in the early morning hours of July 6 after she called for help thinking there was a prowler outside her home in the Cabbage Patch neighborhood of unincorporated Sangamon County, just outside Springfield.
Invisible Institute, IPM News, and Illinois Times obtained Grayson’s personnel file and application materials through a public records request to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office. After reviewing these records, Burbank said he believes the Sheriff’s Office was negligent in hiring Grayson.
Image: Dean Olsen / Illinois Times