Crime & Safety

WSPD Officer Recognized With Double Awards

Officer Danielle Stevens, a staple of the Western Springs Police Department's education and prevention program, has been awarded twice in the same month.

The Western Springs Police Department’s Officer Danielle Stevens this November has both received the Cook County Sheriff’s Award of Merit and been honored as the Illinois Crime Prevention Association’s 2011 Crime Prevention Officer of the Year.

Sheriff Tom Dart presented Stevens with the former award at a ceremony on November 16. The Award of Merit celebrates “select law enforcement officers throughout Cook County who have consistently performed beyond the call of duty by displaying an outstanding attitude, public service and professionalism,” according to a WSPD press release.

The latter honor, which Stevens will officially receive on December 1, recognizes Stevens’ significant contributions to the Western Springs community’s crime prevention efforts through a variety of initiatives.

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“Collectively… it just makes me feel that of all the hard work I’ve done over the past five years is not only recognized, but appreciated,” Stevens said.

Stevens, a five-year veteran of the Village force, has served in the capacity of School Resource and as a Crime Prevention officer. In just the past year, she has taught Village students courses in train-safety, stranger-danger, cyberbullying-awareness, bike-safety and sexual-violence prevention, and regularly participates in the Safety Village program. She is also a certified Elderly Service Officer and works with the Village’s Peer Jury.

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She has also been a major part of the Village’s growing Neighborhood Watch program, which now boasts 300 households and has seen growing interest in the wake of the tragic Kelli O’Laughlin murder.

“I spent the first week after the murder, pretty much very day talking with residents about home security, the neighborhood-watch program, other crime-prevention programs that we have available,” she said.

Stevens also participates in crime-mapping (keeping track of burglaries and bike thefts) and sends out regular awareness reports to Villagers.

“As they say, [the awards] go to those officers who have gone the extra mile,” she said. “I think that I could do so much through my commission, but it has to extend throughout all the other areas of the department.

“And having a crime prevention unit is very important because it gives structure to everything."


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