Tom Templeton has to be happy, or at least a little relieved.

It's taken forever for the La Salle County sheriff to put into action a simple idea to ease the challenge he faces with deputies spread thin across La Salle County — the second largest county in Illinois in square miles.

By the end of this month he hopes to have a substation in operation in Northville Township. The unmanned station will be in office space donated by Lake Holiday in the northeast corner of the county. Lake Holiday also has its own security, which uses the same space.

Sheriff Templeton said he hopes this will be the first of four such stations.

The idea makes sense. Once a computer hookup is in place, deputies on patrol will be able to stop at the station to do paperwork, instead of driving all the way back to Ottawa to finish reports. Often deputies can get another call while doing paperwork. It's best to be closer to the action.

Templeton says Lake Holiday is a good place to start.

"Lake Holiday is the obvious choice to start with because of the huge population area up there, how far it is from Ottawa and how long it takes to get there," he told The Times.

Kudos to Lake Holiday for providing space, although that area also will benefit from the boost in security.

Not sure why it took so long for this idea to blossom. The space has been available for a long time and Templeton pushed the idea years ago.

In January this year he reported he was still working with the county's Information Technology Department for the computer hookup.

At that time County Board member Jack Leininger, R-Marseilles, suggested having deputies call in reports to a transcriber.

"I'd rather see a deputy on the road driving his car around than be in the office or that substation up there," he said.

That suggestion keeps dying on the vine, however, when it comes time to hire a transcriber.

Keeping the payroll down and improving response time make for a good mix in this situation.

We look forward to seeing this idea actually get plugged in and seeing how effective it can be.No doubt the sheriff will let us know how the idea is working.

We see the logic, however, and would hope Templeton can move on to setting up more substations.

Let's hope the next substation, however, does not take so long to get set up. That, of course, would put a real smile on Templeton's face.