Friday May 15, 2020 | View in browser
Weekly Deployment Meeting Highlights
Every week, Linda Hansen attends the Evanston Police Department’s Deployment Meetings, takes notes on the topics discussed and writes about other police-related matters of interest to the people who work and live in Evanston.
So You Think You Know the Evanston Police Department?
 NYC cop and a doughnut Credit: NY Post
When I started writing In The Squad Room over six years ago, everything I believed about law enforcement came from television, movies or my own limited encounters with the police (two moving violations and one carefree college incident that landed me and my friends a beery afternoon in the Turtle Town lockup outside Beloit, Wisconsin). Just about everything I thought I knew was wrong.
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We will continue to publish This Week’s Crime map, but without commentary. If there are topics of interest to you, please send them our way.
Police officers have a traffic ticket quota to fill and that’s why you’re more likely to get handed a citation at the end of the month, when the monthly deadline approaches.
FALSE.
This is just not true. All field personnel (patrol officers) have the added responsibility of enforcing the rules of the road, but no one gets kudos or bonus pay for writing the highest number of citations in a given month. If that were true, there would be more citations than warnings (which isn’t the case in Evanston).
The Evanston Police Department has never participated in any national “breaking news” incidents.
FALSE. Here are two that come to mind.
The first happened on April 4, 1980, when Evanston cops were staking out a rental truck stolen during an armed robbery earlier that day. Two armed suspects were arrested. Later on the same day, they investigated a suspicious parked van where officers noticed a “false mustache slipping from the lip of one of the van's occupants”. A pistol was discovered in the purse of another, a search of the van revealed a cache of guns and all nine occupants were arrested. It turned out that the group represented a major portion of FALN's membership, including one individual on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. (Note: The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN) was a Puerto Rican paramilitary organization that, through direct – and some might say terrorist - action, advocated complete independence for Puerto Rico.)
On July 20, 1984, serial killer Alton Coleman, and his girlfriend Debra Brown were arrested in Mason Park by EPD officers, following a two-month crime spree that left eight people dead, including three children, and took the couple from Wisconsin to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and eventually, Evanston. A resident, who had lived in Waukegan (Coleman’s hometown), recognized the murderer as he and Brown crossed the street, then called the EPD from a gas station. Four officers arrived at the scene; working in pairs to apprehend Coleman and Brown, who attempted to walk away. They were identified by their fingerprints at EPD HQs. Coleman died by lethal injection in 2002. Brown’s sentence was commuted to life in prison in Ohio, where she remains today.
Bike Patrol officers are basically ambassadors for the EPD. They don’t get the same respect as cops in squads and they don’t catch crooks.
FALSE and FALSE.
It is true that most bike patrol cops here in Evanston are mostly drawn from the ranks of the PST (Problem Solving Team), which automatically makes them a little more community-policing oriented than, let’s say, the detectives. Plus, the fact that they’re more approachable on a Cannondale than in a Ford Police Interceptor means that most people find them less intimidating. And according to Patrol Officer Brooks, cops on bikes are actually approached by citizens, so it may be that their accessibility translates to admiration and maybe even respect.
Even so, they are deployed to patrol areas, sometimes in stealth operations, to go (quietly) where those big SUVs can’t. Officer Carrigan told us a couple of weeks ago about apprehending a pair of motor vehicle burglars when he was out on a bike patrol. He had to jump off his bike and call for back-up, but according to him, arrests like these are not uncommon. He pointed out that a cop on a bike can easily outrun a sprinting suspect who is likely to run out of steam in about 15 seconds.
Police officers are assigned partners and work in pairs.
TRUE and FALSE.
According to Commander Garner, the EPD has partner cars deployed for specialty units and patrol. But officers, for the most part, are not assigned partners like they are on cop shows. Staffing levels and the nature of the work also have a role. Gang suppression activities may require the presence of more than one officer, but traffic enforcement (generally) does not.
Cops’ affinity for donuts is not a myth.
TRUE.
But it relates to history. Today, it’s considered a laughable trope. Early-hours donut shops, the only late night alternative to diners, sprung up around the country following WWII and cops, looking for a cheap available on-the-go snack to accompany a burnt-tasting cup of coffee, frequented them. Proprietors probably appreciated the air of security this offered in the wee hours of the morning. While I have seen boxes of donuts sent by grateful citizens in the squad room, I’ve seen just as many (or more) apples get snarfed up just as quickly.
It’s possible to skip college and go from high school to the police academy to join the EPD police force.
FALSE.
Applicants for a position on the EPD force must have a minimum of 60 hours of college credit, roughly equivalent to an Associate Degree. The trend toward higher education in law enforcement took root in the 1980s, with the general belief (and some evidence) that better educated individuals make better cops. According to the National Police Foundation, 30.2 percent of police officers in the United States have a four-year college degree. A little more than half (51.8 percent) have a two-year degree, while 5.4 percent have a graduate degree. Advanced education for officers means more opportunities for advancement and higher pay grades.
All sworn police officers are also EMTs.
FALSE.
The confusion here may be with Evanston’s firefighters, who are all certified paramedics. They are among the first responders when arrestees and victims require medical attention.
One typical example: EFD officers carry Narcan to revive victims of drug overdoses; EPD officers do not.
However, officers are trained in emergency first aid and universal precautions. EPD Patrol Officer Ostap, who also serves as Leader/Emergency Medical Support on NIPAS (Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, the mutual aid organization that serves over 100 communities), provides departmental training. Mass shootings have made emergency first aid for police officers a modern training topic and a mandatory skillset.
A compliant citizen, depending on the offense, can avoid being handed a traffic ticket.
TRUE.
This is something that every graduate of the Citizen Police Academy has learned (and everyone should know anyhow). No one is going to beat what looks like incontrovertible evidence of a serious crime by being nice to the officer, but for some traffic offenses or violations of city ordinances, it pays to be compliant. Officers have some discretion in how these things are resolved.
Here are edited excerpts from the EPD’s Policy Manual: “Officers are encouraged to use sound discretion in the enforcement of the law. This department does not tolerate abuse of law enforcement authority. The work of law enforcement is not always predictable and circumstances may arise which warrant departure from these guidelines. It is the intent of this manual to be viewed from an objective standard, taking into consideration the sound discretion entrusted to members of this department under the circumstances reasonably available at the time of any incident.”
Some career criminals (let’s say burglars) follow the habits of the police force in an effort to escape capture.
(PROBABLY) TRUE
In any career, success can be a matter of doing your research and understanding the landscape. So it makes sense that career criminals – and we have them here (burglars especially) – pay attention to the activities of law enforcement. Police believe that offenders may use 9-1-1 as a distraction or a scanner to monitor EPD activity. Frequenters, according to Commander Garner, know the officers, department, and the legal system as well.
Discretion is something that I understand, since some of what is covered in deployment meetings is ‘intel’ – information about new and ongoing investigations – and privileged information. That’s not reportable. It’s pretty unlikely that crooks are reading In The Squad Room, but some news outlets (that reach a broader audience) are. And that’s why I have an Editor.
Home free: Once hired, EPD police officers aren’t required to engage in professional development training.
SO FALSE.
Here I need to thank Sergeant Levy for his detailed response.
“The State of Illinois mandates numerous training areas, with different time frames to complete them after initial training - whether that initial training be the police academy or specialized training. Here’s an overview of the trainings that EPD officers must complete:
Every year
- Firearm Qualification
- Law Updates
- Use of Force
- Hazmat
- Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) (Federal Law)
Every two years
- Firearm Qualification
- Law Updates
- Use of Force
- Hazmat
- CPR/AED
Every three years
- Constitutional and Proper Use of Authority
- Procedural Justice
- Civil Rights
- Human Rights
- Cultural Competency
- Mental Health Awareness and Response
- Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect
- Officer Wellness
- Trauma Informed Response and Investigation of Sexual Assault/Abuse
EPD has a number of state certified instructors in different areas, for example firearms, "taser", defensive tactics, use of force and sexual assault investigations, to name a few. We do as much in-house training as possible. We're lucky that we have a gun range at the PD, so we conduct the annual firearms certifications in house (which is a big one for many reasons) as well as smaller firearms trainings throughout the year.
To work in certain specialties, officers are also required to hold specialized training certifications. For example, any detective assigned to investigative units, that detective needs specialized training to be the lead investigator in a homicide investigation. Additionally, detectives receive specialized training in trauma informed response to sexual assault investigations. Both mandated by the state.
Our in-house trainers have to prepare lesson plans or use lesson plans that are approved by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB). For training we're not able to complete in-house, we have a couple of options:
NEMRT (Northeast Multi-Regional Training) is the mobile training unit of ILETSB that provides classes throughout the year in numerous areas. All training through NEMRT is state certified and meets at least one area of mandated training. Additionally, ILETSB offers online training for Police.
EPD also utilizes Police Law Institute, which is an online learning platform. Each month is a different lesson that is put together by PLI staff in consultation with Illinois attorneys and certified through the State. Each month's lesson covers a mandated training area.”
Correction to last week’s In The Squad Room: Apologies to readers and Governor Pritzker for the misspelling of his name.
Gun Buyback Program
The Ongoing Gun Buyback Program allows Evanston residents to turn in an operational firearm to police at any time in exchange for $100. Residents can utilize this service by calling 311 or the Evanston Police Department non-emergency line at 847-866-5000. A police officer will pick up the unwanted firearm at the resident's address and present the resident with a voucher that can be exchanged for $100 at the City Collector’s Office located in the Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.
Firearms should not be brought to the police department, unless prior approval has been granted from a supervisor at the police department. An officer will call the resident after a request is made for the officer to come to a person's residence and retrieve the firearm.
 What would you like to know about what the Evanston Police Department is doing to fight crime? Let us know if you have specific questions or concerns about issues in your neighborhood. Submissions are always welcome at police@cityofevanston.org or by calling the community strategies bureau at 847-866-5019.
Subscribe to Evanston’s Daily Crime Report by email or view the Monthly Crime Statistics that are reported on a yearly basis to the FBI.
 If you would like to learn more about the Evanston Police Department, take an active role in community-oriented policing, and join the ranks of over 900 graduates since 1995, please visit the Citizen Police Academy webpage.
There is no cost to anyone who lives or works in Evanston. Getting to know your police force is essential in reducing crime, building trust in the community and serving the needs of the community.
The weekly deployment report is an informational bulletin prepared by a community member that keeps citizens informed about what police do on a weekly basis. Information contained in this report is not to be considered as a media/press release. Any information considered by a media source from this bulletin needs to be verified by an official from the department. This can be done by contacting the media line at 847-866-5026.
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