Steve Stovall

Sheriff Steve Stovall was born and raised in Freeport and has strong ties to Stephenson County. Sheriff Stovall attended Aquin High School and Highland Community College in Freeport. Before his career in Law Enforcement, Sheriff Stovall worked at Park Hills Golf Course, Kelly Springfield Tire Company, Messing and Becker Sporting Goods, Stewart and Associates and Joe Johnson Landscaping.

Sheriff Stovall served as a volunteer in the Freeport Auxiliary Police in the early nineties and was eventually hired as a full-time sworn Freeport Police Officer in August of 1994. During his ensuing 14+ year career at the FPD, Sheriff Stovall worked in the patrol division, Detective Bureau, Street Crime Unit, State Line Area Narcotics Team, FBI Task Force, DEA Task Force, and was a team leader on the FPD Emergency Response Team.

In 2007, Sheriff Stovall left the Freeport Police Department to accept a position as a contracted firearms and tactics instructor through the U.S. State Department. While working as an instructor, Sheriff Stovall was assigned to a Team Leader position in the Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA) program. Sheriff Stovall wrote curriculum, instructed students, and is considered a subject matter expert in the area of firearms and tactics. To this day, Sheriff Stovall continues to teach firearms and tactics classes and is a valuable resource in this area.

In 2014, Sheriff Stovall was hired by the previous Sheriff, David Snyders, as the Assistant Jail Administrator and served in that position until his promotion to Jail Administrator. During this time, Sheriff Stovall was also assigned to the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response Team (ERT), where he oversees training, firearms, tactics and serves as the on-scene commander of critical situations that occur in Stephenson County.  

Some of Sheriff Stovall’s many accomplishments while Jail Administrator include; facility re-organization, equipment updates, safety and security updates to the building and the network and researching solutions for current and future mechanical updates and replacements. Additionally, new procedures were established for handling inmates during critical situations, as well as updating the disaster plan for the jail and overseeing procedures for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sheriff Stovall was promoted to the position of Chief Deputy in 2021 and was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office. Some of the duties Sheriff Stovall performed during his service as Chief Deputy included; budgeting, purchasing, scheduling, internal investigations, discipline and maintaining the courthouse, jail, and public safety buildings.

Sheriff Stovall is a graduate of the Illinois State Police Academy and a 2017 graduate of the prestigious Northwestern University Center for Public Safety School of Police Staff and Command (Class #410).

In addition to his Sheriff’s Office career, Sheriff Stovall has served as the Aquin Junior High Athletic Director, was the chairman of the NUIC Junior High Athletics Conference, is a member of the Council of Administration for Aquin High School and is currently the Aquin Junior Senior High School Campus Security Expert. Sheriff Stovall is also a member of Freeport Noon Kiwanis, a member of the Stephenson County ETSB (911) Board, holds the position of co-chairman for the Northwest Illinois Law Enforcement Executives Association, holds the position of Vice-Chair for the Illinois Jail Association, and he is an executive member of Region 2-Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System.