To say that Jamie Dunne was walking into a tough situation when he took the position of Prospect Heights chief of police would be an understatement.
In February 2011, he stepped into a city that had, in the previous six months, seen six of the city's 21 sworn officers laid off and the abrupt resignation of the police chief. This was amid a tense standoff between the city and police union. The police contract had been expired for 18 months; the police station had been closed to the public for almost as long.
These chronic issues created an environment in which it was hard to envision a solution emerging anytime soon.
"There was a demoralized police force, low morale and a lack of trust between the officers and the city," Dunne said of Prospect Heights when he stepped into office.
Nearly a year and a half later, the picture is rosier. The police department is open daily; a four-year police contract has been signed; the laid-off officers were offered their jobs back and four were rehired. The other empty spots were filled, and part-time officers were hired to help reduce the workload.
While the city did its part to facilitate the change — Mayor Nick Helmer, who took office in May 2011, placed a priority on police improvements — Dunne also had to solicit concessions from the police union. Part-time officers, in particular, had been a point of contention. A sign that the issue had been smoothed over: In May, the city increased the part-time police staff from three officers to five with no objections.
"Once we demonstrated that they weren't replacing them, but enhancing our operations, they realized it would be a positive for them, also," Dunne said.
The improvements go beyond the increased personnel.
With officers forced to constantly patrol the streets and the police station closed to the public, the building had become less than adequate. The city updated work stations and replaced furniture, which, in addition to increasing the station's functionality in the wake of its reopening, boosted police morale.
"Issuing them new weapons and devices for their safety and modern, up-to-date equipment and furniture shows a commitment from the mayor and the city council to the police staff here," Dunne said.
Guns and officers don't grow on trees, though. Prospect Heights has historically struggled to establish recurring revenue streams due to its status as a non-home-rule city, greatly limiting its power to tax.
A $510,000 settlement the city received earlier this year helped fund police officer hires, but the source of the money — a 2006 fire that destroyed city hall — isn't exactly renewable.
Helmer said the department also gets a significant chunk of money from the Drug Enforcement Administration. Since Prospect Heights pays for an officer assigned to work with the DEA, the city is given a share of funds collected from seizures made by that agency, money that Helmer described as reliably in the "hundreds of thousands" and that amounted to $560,779 in fiscal year 2009-10.
And inefficiencies were cut, Helmer explained: When the department was at its smallest, the overtime money being paid alone was enough to cover the salaries of two full-time officers. Now, part-time officers are used in lieu of paying overtime. Volunteers who have gone through the town's Citizens Police Academy help staff the police station.
While the department still has room to grow — Helmer mentioned the possibility of hiring two more officers, and there's a part-time position left to be filled — the focus now turns to maintenance. Convincing a town to revitalize a long-suffering police department is one thing; ensuring that it's not back on the chopping block when cuts need to be made is another.
In Prospect Heights, officials think they've rebuilt the police force in such a way that the department's health won't be a problem.
"One of the things I said when I started here was that we needed slow, incremental growth that could be fiscally sustained," Dunne said.
Copyright 2012 Paddock Publications, Inc.
