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By George Houde and Brian Cox
Chicago Tribune CHICAGO — Police departments in the north and northwest suburbs are feeling the strain of economic woes, with school anti-drug programs and purchases of squad cars taking a back seat to keeping officers on the streets. Feeling the squeeze from declines in sales-tax and other revenues, some communities also have opted not to fill police department vacancies or are cutting overtime. Schaumburg is leaving nine officer positions open, Elgin seven and Wilmette one. Schaumburg also has suspended its gang-prevention program, while officers in Evanston were asked to turn off their squad cars if they are stopped more than a few minutes to write a report or a ticket. "We're watching every dime we spend," said Schaumburg Police Chief Brian Howerton. "We are having some dramatic budget cuts." In trying to keep officers on the streets, crime-prevention programs seem to be taking a hit. In Skokie, a hiring freeze and efforts to control overtime mean that officers are no longer available to make after-hours talks to citizen groups about home security and other issues. "We're in an austere environment," said Skokie Police Sgt. Fred Brehmer. "We have to make the best of our available resources." With a hiring freeze in Schaumburg, Howerton wanted to avoid cutting the number of patrols and investigators, so he has transferred two liaison officers out of junior high schools and reassigned another crime-prevention officer. He also said he has moved officers from traffic duty to patrol as needed. Howerton acknowledged that on occasion, there are fewer officers on patrol than there used to be. "We had school officers in all three junior highs, and now we just have one to cover all three and we're considering terminating the third position," he said. "In these difficult economic times, you need to concentrate on core services." Craig Jannusch, a teacher and science department chairman at Keller Junior High School in Schaumburg, said school-liaison officers play an important role -- not only by presenting DARE and anti-gang programs, but also by interacting with students. "Our kids get to see a police officer relating to them in a classroom -- a friendly setting," Jannusch said. "To me, the biggest crime of losing school-resource officers is missing this part." Elgin also plans to cut its DARE program, putting three officers back on patrol, and the department will not replace any cars, though 13 were due this year, said Deputy Chief Jeff Swoboda. The city will not fill seven sworn-officer positions in a department with 189 officers, he said. "We're going to try to get grants under the federal stimulus program," Swoboda said. "If that happens, we'll start filling our open positions." Officials with Elgin-based District U-46 have been in discussions with police to find a way to get officers into the schools on a limited basis, said John Heiderscheidt, district safety coordinator. In Carpentersville, Police Chief David Neumann also has cut back on plans to buy new squad cars and the purchase of new uniforms. "We were going to replace eight or nine cars, and now we're only going to replace four," Neumann said. "We'll just have to make things last longer." Six part-time civilian employees were laid off in Rolling Meadows, including a records clerk, a secretary and a community service officer, said Police Chief Steve Williams. Williams said he has not cut back training because it is too important, but he is searching for ways to reduce costs. One option would be to bring experts to the department rather than sending officers out of town, he said. Another is using Web-based training seminars, he said. Wilmette also will postpone buying a sport-utility vehicle and a surveillance car for the department, said Tim Frenzer, interim village manager. "The demand for police services does not go down in these times," Frenzer said. "Frankly, it goes up." Copyright 2009 Chicago Tribune
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