Round Lake police to save on crime lab costs
Round Lake intends to quit receiving service from a Lake County-based crime laboratory and switch to the Illinois State Police in a move expected to save at least $24,000 annually.
Police Chief Michael Gillette stressed he doesn't have a quarrel with the work the village has received from Northeastern Regional Crime Laboratory in Vernon Hills. He said going to the state police is simply an effort to save taxpayers money next year.
Gillette said the state police crime lab on Roosevelt Road near University of Illinois at Chicago won't charge any fees. He said he dealt with the state lab while at the Carpentersville Police Department, where he was deputy chief before joining Round Lake in April.
“They're both very good crime labs,” Gillette said Tuesday. “They are both at the top of their game.”
But Lake Zurich Police Chief Patrick Finlon expressed concern about Round Lake's plan to depart the consortium that uses public money to fund the Northeastern Illinois lab in Vernon Hills. Finlon is one of the lab's board members.
“If everyone starts dropping out, they no longer exist,” Finlon said. “I understand, with budget impacts, some organizations have to make some difficult decisions.”
Master Sgt. Isaiah Vega, an Illinois State Police spokesman, said the agency's Chicago laboratory has not received more requests for service because of municipal budget concerns similar to Round Lake's.
Examining fingerprints, DNA, firearms and tool marks are among the typical duties of a crime laboratory. Finlon and Garth Glassburg, executive director of the Northeastern Illinois lab, said evidence is processed there much faster than at the state police operation. They said quicker scientific results on the evidence can reduce investigators' time on a case.
Gillette said he was satisfied with the state police turnaround time. He said Round Lake Beach uses the state police lab, which could lead to officers in Round Lake carpooling with their neighbors to transport evidence to Chicago. Gillette said Round Lake usually wouldn't need to make more than one trip every month.
One year of the Northeastern Illinois crime lab's work will cost Round Lake $24,047, calculated on the village's population. Northbrook, a larger town, will pay $42,462 to the lab through the fiscal year ending April 30.
Round Lake Mayor James Dietz said village board members are to vote next month on whether to leave the Northeastern Illinois lab and bring the evidence work to the state police, most likely starting in May. A board committee supports the move.
“The general consensus at this point is we'll get the same level of service,” Dietz said.
About 40 suburbs belong to the Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Laboratory, which was founded in 1968 and originally operated in Highland Park. Glassburg said the lab began after Chicago police discontinued evidence work for the suburbs.
Northeastern Illinois' full-service crime lab operations moved to a Vernon Hills business park in 2004 after 35 years at the Highland Park Police Department.