Naperville police build follow-up list during first 'Chat with Chief'
Naperville police Chief Robert Marshall brought a notebook Tuesday to his department's first "Chat with the Chief" at the city's 95th Street Library.
As people trickled in, he and four other police administrators started filling its pages with comments in need of follow-up.
Resident Ray Kirkpatrick, for example, is concerned with drivers speeding past his house in the Maplebrook subdivision while trying to catch a green light on 75th Street.
Judy Cittadino volunteers with Naperville Search and Rescue and wishes police would activate the community watch group more often.
Steve Treacy has nothing but praise for the department and its officers.
Mary Lou Wehrli wants to work with police to find locations other than the 5th Avenue Metra station where the Rotary Club of Naperville Sunrise can post suicide prevention signs.
Caden Busch, 4, aspires to join the department in roughly 17 years.
Marshall, along with deputy chiefs Brian Cunningham and Mike Anders and commanders Jason Arres and Tom Kammerer, took it all in during the first session of what is expected to become a quarterly series. The department launched Chat with the Chief to "continue to build good communication and relations with our residents," Marshall said.
It's all about listening.
"We want people to come and vent. What are we doing well? What can we improve? Do you see us enough? Do you not see us enough?" Cmdr. Jason Arres said. "We don't get a lot of calls like that for feedback."
Several of the roughly 15 people who attended during the first half of the two-hour chat said they were pleased with the opportunity to bend the ear of the chief or another top-ranking official.
Kirkpatrick said he hadn't heard back from the officer he was directed to call when he stopped by the station about a month ago to complain of speeders in his neighborhood.
"I ran into a brick wall at the police department," Kirkpatrick said. "I just couldn't get through."
But on Tuesday, he was one of the first people to get a moment with Marshall. The city's top cop said the speeding concern definitely makes the follow-up list.
"This was just perfect for me," Kirkpatrick said. "He listened. That's better than what I had before."
When the department hosts future chats, Marshall said they will be on evenings or Saturday mornings scattered across the city.
By hosting the first session on a weekday morning at 95th Street and Route 59, Arres said police were hoping to hear from nearby business owners as well as retirees, parents taking young kids to the library and southwest side residents.
"We're trying to rotate it," Arres said, "to hit every demographic."