Streamwood allowing Bartlett to use its jail
Bartlett and Streamwood officials are finalizing an agreement allowing people arrested in Bartlett to be jailed in Streamwood while Bartlett's new police station is under construction.
The pending agreement is largely a backup for an existing agreement between Bartlett and Hanover Park.
Bartlett Deputy Police Chief Geoffrey Pretkelis said this backup was sought just in case of an emergency or lack of available cells in Hanover Park. But no such circumstances have yet arisen since construction on Bartlett's new station began this summer, he added.
Streamwood trustees signed off on the agreement Thursday, and it will go before the Bartlett village board for final approval Aug. 15.
Though Bartlett's new station is expected to be completed at the end of 2018, the agreement extends through July 31, 2019, just in case of delays or contingencies, Streamwood Village Clerk Kittie Kopitke said.
Streamwood Deputy Police Chief Daryl Syre said the agreement was carefully considered and is not anticipated to create any hardship for his own department.
The earlier agreement between Bartlett and Hanover Park took effect June 25, shortly before work was expected to begin on the new and expanded police station on the site of the current one next to Bartlett village hall.
Hanover Park was chosen for the primary jail-sharing agreement because its station is closer to Bartlett and shares the Du-Comm dispatch service, unlike Streamwood, Pretkelis said.
But all three villages have commonly shared each other's jails whenever one police department is holding an open house, he added. More formal agreements were deemed necessary for the longer period of building construction.
Bartlett is in Cook and DuPage counties and uses both of their court systems. Since arrestees in DuPage County go directly to the county jail, Bartlett mainly uses its own jail or those of its neighbors for Cook County prisoners awaiting their initial bond hearings.
Though Bartlett lost most of its own jail facility when the first phase of construction began on the new building, it will retain one cell through the end of 2017.
Until then, that cell would be used first before multiple arrests require the use of Hanover Park and Streamwood's jails.