History 4

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1987

Deputy Chief Ernest A. Jacobi is appointed chief of police on September 2.

Evanston assigns two officers to NIPAS—the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, a fully equipped, multiple agency, emergency mutual aid system serving northeastern Illinois .

After three years as a pilot program, the foot patrol unit becomes a formal component of the police department—the Foot Patrol Bureau—assigned to the patrol division, staffed with a sergeant and five officers. In addition to traditional policing activities, foot patrol officers interact laterally across bureau and divisional lines within the department and perform many community-based problem-solving activities in neighborhoods.

In the late 1970s, the EPD began developing ways to form a working partnership with all aspects of the community to control and prevent crime more effectively. To formally acknowledge the combined efforts of the many residents, community groups, and police personnel who have contributed to the successes of this effort, the Department formally names this alliance The Partnership. And, as a reflection of the success and popularity of the foot patrols, the chosen motto is We Walk Together.

The new Evanston Animal Shelter at 2310 Oakton Street is formally dedicated. A volunteer support group—CARE, Community Animal Rescue Effort—is established to assist the animal wardens with the care of the animals and the operation of the facility. The volunteers are credited with increasing the adoptions of animals from 56 during the first six months of 1987 to 166 during the second six months.

1989

After four years in preparation, the Evanston Police Department is awarded accredited status by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). Established in 1979, the commission administers a national accreditation program similar to those established for schools and hospitals. CALEA standards guide law enforcement agencies in the management of all major police functions. The Department was an early supporter of the new accreditation program: The EPD helped review early drafts of the standards, which were approved by the commission in 1983. Based on an on site inspection in May by a team of commission-appointed assessors, who verify compliance to over 900 applicable standards, CALEA awards the Evanston Police Department its initial accredited status at its meeting on July 29 in Columbus, Ohio. At the time, only 116 other law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Canada are accredited.

An employee drug-screening program is established in an effort to enhance the safety and well being of employees and, by extension, residents of the city.

1990

Officer Greg Tomczyk is assigned January 1 and trained as the first DARE officer, followed by Officer Charley McNeal later in the year. The newly-formed DARE program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) provides 500 students enrolled in Evanston ’s middle schools with instruction on resisting peer pressure and making affirmative life-choices. (The following year, 1008 students receive instruction.)

The Department’s Vice & Narcotics Bureau and its Gang Crimes Bureau merge to form the Drug-Gangs Crime Task Force, a major component of a new initiative to control gangs and drugs. In January, the department launches an approach to fighting gangs and drugs that is more comprehensive and aggressive than previous efforts. Aptly named Working to Eliminate Drugs and Gangs in Evanston (WEDGE), the program includes many components: the task force, an external advisory council, anonymous hotlines for reporting drug/gang activity, police/citizen “Two Party Agreements,” youth education (DARE), plus community education by task force members, crime prevention specialists, foot patrol officers, victim advocates, youth outreach workers and youth officers.

Twenty-one at risk Evanston youths—all but one of them freshmen at ETHS, all having prior police contacts, and most suspected of gang involvement—participate in a wilderness experience at Camp Echo co sponsored by the Department, ETHS, and the YMCA (owner of the camp). The weekend has two objectives: to show youths an alternative way of thinking about themselves and their futures and to provide them with a positive law-enforcement contact.

The Department establishes its first K-9 unit consisting of a trained police dog and a police-officer handler, Sue Trigourea. The team is called out to assist with tracking, building/area searches, evidence recovery, and narcotics detection.

Terry Vrabec becomes the first full-time civilian crime prevention specialist, reflecting a trend toward civilianization in law enforcement agencies.

1991

The Victim/Witness and Youth Outreach Bureau is separated March 1 into two components. The director and two victim advocates become the Victim Services Bureau. The City’s Youth-Advocacy Program is absorbed into the department’s Youth Outreach Program, thereby creating a Youth Services Bureau.

For the second year in a row the Department is recognized by the National Association of Town Watch for its excellent leadership in mobilizing Evanston for National Night Out—the annual anti-crime demonstration involving 23.4 million people in 8,370 communities from all 50 states and U.S. territories, as well as military bases worldwide.

The Department becomes part of ALERTS (Area-wide Law Enforcement Radio Terminal System), a computer network developed and managed by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. By combining traditional radio technology with data communications, ALERTS allows police officers to use in car computers (thus far ten Evanston squad cars are computer-equipped) to access LEADS [see 1969] and the FBI’s National Crime Information Center for information about stolen vehicles, wanted and missing persons, drivers’ licenses, vehicle registrations and state criminal history files. The direct access to such data provides officers in patrol cars with the information they need for making quick, effective decisions on the street. The in car computers also can be used to communicate between squad cars and the communications center.

For the first time, the Department is represented on a multi-disciplinary advisory board addressing the emerging issue of elder-abuse. A detective attends monthly meetings of the Elderly Abuse Board with legal, mental health, financial, clerical, and medical practitioners to discuss specific cases of elder abuse. The Family Counseling Service of Evanston and Skokie Valley is the state-designated elder-abuse agency for this area.

1993

Gerald A. Cooper is sworn in November 1 as chief of police.

The transition from 1993 to 1994 is celebrated with Evanston ’s first "First Night Celebration," a family-oriented alternative to the traditional New Year’s Eve celebration. The City plans a variety of events, including musical and dramatic entertainment, food and beverages, late-night shopping and a fireworks display. The event requires one of the year’s largest police special operations plans, and the night is a great success.

1994

COPPS—Community-Oriented Policing and Problem Solving—is expanded to a departmentwide strategy. Members are encouraged, through trainings and retreats to focus on the community and use problem-solving methods in all divisions and bureaus.

Fixed beats and long-term shift assignments are enacted to enhance The Partnership and neighborhood problem solving. Previously, officers rotated through three shifts on a 28 day cycle. Spending more time in the same beat and shift is expected to help officers be more familiar with the community and problems in their assigned areas.

Foot patrol officers begin using specially equipped bicycles in their beats. Bicycles greatly improve the formerly “foot patrol” officers’ mobility while retaining their close contact with people in their beats, especially pedestrians and neighbors in their yards. Bicycles also are a very effective and versatile means for police to participate in patrol, tactical and enforcement operations.

To free up officer time for problem solving and improved response to incidents, a differential response assignment is implemented in the patrol division. To apply differential response on a shift, an officer is assigned to take selected reports by phone and conduct delayed in person follow ups.

As part of the Anti Panhandling Strategy intended to quell aggressive panhandling in the downtown business district, police officers and volunteers attempt to persuade citizens to change their response to panhandlers (many of whom are neither homeless nor needy). Citizens are encouraged to make donations to social service agencies serving people known to be homeless or needy, rather than simply handing over cash to anyone who requests it.

A state-of-the-art Enhanced 911 Communication Center opens May 9. The new high-tech equipment enables telecommunicators to respond to lost or interrupted calls, or to callers who cannot communicate well. For all 911 emergency calls, it provides the phone number from which the call initiates and the address at which that phone number is located. The center features an automatic vehicle-location system that allows telecommunicators to determine the police vehicle closest to an emergency call for service.

At its meeting on July 30 in Grand Rapids , Michigan , the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) accredits the Evanston Police Department for the second time. A team of assessors visited the Department in May and verified the Department’s compliance to over 700 CALEA standards (2nd ed.). The Department was initially accredited in 1989.

 

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