The Illinois State Police will be new tenants in the former police department building, 17355 S. 68th Ct., starting in mid-April.
When Tinley Park police officers moved into their new quarters at 7850 W. 183rd St. several months ago, their old digs, recently dedicated as the John T. Dunn Public Safety Building, were turned over to such entities as the Fire Department and the Youth/Senior Citizen Commission.
It was about that time that Tinley Park Police Chief Michael O’Connell heard that the state police had lost its lease at 83rd Street and Martin Luther King Drive in Chicago. He suggested an arrangement in which the state police could rent 3,000 square feet of office space.
“It might be a little out of the ordinary,” O’Connell said. “They do lease a lot of office space from other property owners.”
However, don’t look for state police cars to race from the parking lot with sirens wailing.
O’Connell said the personnel stationed in Tinley Park will be part of the Division of Internal Investigations, responsible for delving into welfare fraud and the like. About eight officers will work from that location, which the state will rent for almost $30,000 annually on a five-year lease.