The Orland Park Police Department has received a federal grant that allows it to hire six civilians for work that will free up more than 6,000 police man-hours.
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The department recently was informed that it received a Community Oriented Police Services federal grant that will pay for 75 percent of the $119,073 annual cost of hiring six detention aides for two years. The village must commit to covering $29,768 for each year plus agree to hire all six for a third year at the village’s expense.
The grant will allow the department to hire detention aides who will assume some of the responsibilities of sworn police officers in the lockup area, thereby freeing up the officers to participate in community policing programs.
Currently when an arrest is made, sworn officers process the suspect at the station and carry out duties such as taking the photo, fingerprinting and doing a property inventory, said Lt. Jerry Hughes. By law, a police officer must also physically check on an individual in lockup every half-hour, or every 15 minutes if the detainee is a juvenile.
“Ninety-eight percent of the time that means they have to stop what they are doing or come in off the streets to check on the prisoners. And that takes a considerable amount of time away from other policing,” Hughes said.
The detention aides will be responsible for the lockup as well as taking minor incident reports, such as those from people who walk in to report a car accident, Hughes said.
The 6,771 man-hours saved by the aides taking on those tasks will go toward increasing other programs. Hughes said the summer bike patrol and patrols on all-terrain vehicles in the village’s parks and bike paths will be expanded.
Hughes said he hopes to have the detention aides in place before the holiday season.