Hanover Park police form coalition to apply for National Safety Council award

Hanover Park cops call it their "next phase" of community policing.

A coalition led by police is trying to become the fourth Illinois town with a "safe community" distinction from a nonprofit group with close ties to the World Health Organization. They have an ambitious agenda, one that will require village leaders to get on board and months of study.

Winners must build relationships, something that isn't always easy to do in a suburb with residents - and public agencies - spread across two counties and seven school districts.

"We're looking for long-term partnerships here," Deputy Police Chief Andy Johnson said during the coalition's kickoff meeting this week.

The first step is crunching data, looking for areas where the village falls short when it comes to reducing injuries and accidents. Then, they'll narrow in on a plan that could be shaped by educators, domestic violence and child advocates, and Metra police - all of whom showed up at the kickoff.

The program's judges who decide whether Hanover Park joins the Safe Communities America network, run by the National Safety Council, will review new policies and activities that tie in with parts of their own mission: preventing drug overdoses, traffic crashes, senior falls, violence and suicide. The Itasca-based group also aims to improve workplace safety and preparations for disasters.

"A lot of our communities go beyond that," said Suja Shunmugavelu, program manager, pointing to anti-bullying events in schools.

Past winners, like Itasca for instance, don't have a narrow scope. Village officials there organized self-defense classes, added defibrillators in public spaces, and checked seniors' homes for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Hanover Park Mayor Rodney Craig wants the task force to study heroin use, an epidemic according to DuPage County health officials.

"It is a catastrophe. It impacts families," Craig said. "We've got to quit sweeping it under the carpet."

The coalition will meet each month. To apply for the accreditation, the village will pay for a $1,200 fee and host judges in a site visit in nine to 12 months. The National Safety Council, meanwhile, will provide resources and support, Shunmugavelu pledged.

"They have a pretty vast library of research data," Johnson said, "research that we wouldn't have the time or resources to conduct on that level."

The department's data shows serious criminal offenses dropped to a new low for the fifth straight year in 2014, declines police largely attribute to overhauling patrol beats that assign officers to neighborhoods for at least a year. Johnson says the coalition will think beyond those numbers.

"Preventing crime is obviously our No. 1 focus, but a safe community we know is about much more than the crime rate," Johnson said.

The next meeting is set for 2 p.m. Feb. 26 at the police station, 2121 West Lake St.