Nothing But Praise for Police at Public Forum

By all indications, the Western Springs Police Department's bid for re-accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) is going smoothly.

Western Springs police were first accredited by the elite organization in 2004, and maintained their status in their last accreditation in 2007. CALEA accreditation must be voluntarily sought, and reviewed and renewed every three years to ensure that the agency (here, the Western Springs Police Department) had held to CALEA's standards to wear their badge of honor.

At a public forum held in Village Hall last Monday (August 30,) two CALEA accreditors (Rick Pinksaw and Thomas Younce) invited community members to share their thoughts and experiences on the police department. A video of the session would be presented to the official accreditation panel, and all comments would be taken into account.

The comments were overwhelmingly and unanimously positive; a sample follows:

"In my 27 years in the education profession, the Western Springs Police Department is one of the, if not the best, one with whom I've had the privilege to work. The leadership here is solid; the officers are friendly, courteous, helpful, and professional. We are quite fortunate to be a part of and a direct recipient of this partnership." – David Franson, Principal, Lyons Township High Schoool

"We feel that the Western Springs police department has done above and beyond… Chief [Pamela] Church and all the officers in town have been extremely helpful—they have been a tremendous help and we are really appreciative of that." – Joe Lane, President of the Western Springs Business Association.

"They're very proactive in their approach to their investigations and using us as a resource to help them along with their investigations. They also really support our agency… and really do a good job with their investigations into the child abuse which occurs in the town." - Danielle Butts, Director of the Children's Advocacy Center of Southwest Cook County.

"I cannot impress upon you enough how professional this department has become under the tenure of Chief  Church… I am impressed by this department and how they've responded to the myriad of scenarios, and how willing they are to work with my assistance, preparing cases, marshalling evidence, to make themselves available as we prepare to go to trial… I'm proud to be associated with the Western Springs Police Department." - Peter Troy, State Attorney for the 5th Municipal District of Cook County.

"The Western Springs police are a regular proactive presences in our schools… a regular positive presence which creates for our student perspective a very positive relationship from a very early age… in the four communities in which I've worked as a professional educator, this is by far the most positive [relationship] I've been able to experience. Chief Church's leadership keeps getting better and better… I can't imagine [having] a better collaborative relationship." – Brian Barnhart, superintendent, District 101.

"Their crime prevention efforts [and] community education efforts are outstanding, and I appreciate the work they do dealing with the sexual predators who may be attempting to contact the children of our community… to the credit of the men and women who serve here, they continue to serve with high standards and performance." - George Graves, former chief in Western Springs.

After the public hearing, accreditor Pinksaw said he was "pleased" with the turnout and comments.

"It was really good to see a lot of people come out and support the Western Springs department," Pinksaw said. "Really good positive comments, and we really weren't surprised because as we were reviewing the files we were able to see that this is a really professional agency."

The results of the re-accreditation hearing should be in before the end of the 2010 year.