The last board meeting was a little over two weeks ago. It was the 2nd meeting of the new board. It was refreshing to hear thoughtful commentary from our trustees that advanced the discussion rather than political gamesmanship.
At the Committee of the Whole, we had our quarterly Police Awards Ceremony which included swearing in four new officers. It was an honor to be with our officers again at their awards ceremony. The fact that they run towards danger rather than away from it, putting their safety at risk on behalf of others, makes me proud to be the Mayor of Orland Park. We honored individuals for their bravery, achievements and efforts.
While many officers received well deserved individual honors, I am well aware and completely understand that policing is a team effort.
Here is what our Police Department has accomplished:
- In 2019 index crime was the lowest rate since 1993. In 2020 index crime was down another 29% from 2019
- For violent crimes, we were #1 in fewest crimes for all towns greater than 50,000
- Despite perceptions, Orland Square is far safer than the average mall in the country and safer than Oak Brook and Woodfield
- We were named the safest city in Illinois for 2020.
These accomplishments don’t happen without an incredible team driven by outstanding leadership at all levels. But it also doesn’t happen without amazing men & women putting their butts on the line every day.
We approved the fall recreation programs and nine playground renovations. These renovations were approved via a new process where we informed neighbors near each park and held a Recreation Advisory Board meeting for those neighbors to provide input. This is yet another step in our continued effort to be as transparent as possible.
The input that residents provided resulted in modifications to the plans and a unanimous recommendation to the village board which we then approved unanimously. The following parks will have playgrounds renovated this year: Bill Young, Cachey, Cameno Real, Discovery, Ishnala Woods, Marley Creek, Spring Creek, Village Square, and Wedgewood Estates. In addition, several tennis, basketball, bocce and volleyball courts are being refurbished and five new pavilions will be installed throughout the village.
Additionally, we approved the re-zoning of an area to the East of Harlem from BIZ to MFG, consistent with the other uses in the area, which allows businesses to occupy those spaces. Also, this year, the electrical aggregation program could not find better pricing than the ComEd rate. For this reason, we aggregated with MC Squared which matches the ComEd rate and provides the village with $250,000 in funds that will be used towards energy efficiency projects in the village.
We passed a resolution in opposition to and seeking repeal or amendment of certain provisions of the “Statewide Use of Force Standardization Act” (HB3653). Specifically, we called upon the Illinois General Assembly to:
- repeal Section 10-15 of the Act mandating the implementation of the use of body-worn cameras unless and until the funding for such implementation is provided by the State of Illinois, to all local governments and their law enforcement agencies.
- amend Section 10-20 of the Act to permit the recording law enforcement officer to access and review recordings prior to completing incident reports or other documentation.
- repeal Section 33-9 of the Illinois Criminal Code making it a Class 3 felony for a law enforcement officer to fail to comply with State law or his/her department policy requiring the use of officer-worn body cameras.
To be clear, the Village of Orland Park, our department and our officers support the use of body-worn cameras and our board of trustees budgeted for our officers to receive them this year. While the Village of Orland Park can afford body cameras and the administrative costs associated with them, many municipalities cannot, and if the State of Illinois mandates body-worn cameras then the State should provide funding for them.
Additionally, I can think of only two reasons to not allow officers to review these recordings prior to completing their reports. The first is to make it easy to impeach an officer’s testimony to allow criminals to go free. The second is to use any inaccuracies in the reports to damage or end an officer’s career. Until this is fixed, neither myself nor the rest of the village board is willing to put or officers’ careers in jeopardy by putting the body-worn cameras in the field until the Illinois General Assembly fixes this horrible bill.
We also passed a resolution honoring the rights of victims and demanding that violent offenders be held accountable and enforcing maximum bail and punishments allowed by law. Specifically, we called upon for the State’s Attorney to ensure that residents and businesses of Cook County are kept safe by holding violent offenders accountable and enforcing the maximum bail and punishments allowed by law.
Chief Mitchell gave a presentation on the 46 Unauthorized of Use of Weapons charges in the last 2 years. It is appalling the number that were released on their own recognizance and on low bonds. The State’s Attorney continues to release dangerous criminals back into our communities, even those they decide to charge.
Cook County, under this State’s Attorney has an abysmal record of enforcing our laws. State legislators. response to this is passing horrible laws like HB3653 which I already talked about tonight and are now working on more gun laws.
How about enforcing the laws that are already on the books? Until the state and county commit to locking up violent criminals to the fullest extent of the law and enforce existing weapons laws, everything else they do is Kabuki theater and lip service.
Time after time, laws are passed making it easier for criminals to go free and lessen their punishment while simultaneously criminalizing actions of our police officers and of law-abiding citizens. Most importantly, their actions make all of our residents, businesses and police officers less safe. It’s time to stop this madness and enforce the law.
It’s not just gun laws that are not enforced. Just a few weeks ago our police arrested someone for a DUI. This person has one prior conviction and eight prior arrests. Yet we can’t get felony prosecution because of not enough prior convictions. Yet another example of favoring the criminal and making law abiding citizens less safe.
This is unacceptable and needs to stop. Our citizens deserve better which is why the vote was unanimous on this resolution.
Thank you to everyone who attended the fundraiser last Thursday and made it a huge success.
Most importantly thank you to those of you who attended the Memorial Day Ceremony and the 55 people that put their names on the memorial wall (a record!).
