Bike patrol to check for kids in cars at courthouse

Cook County sheriff's police this week began patrolling courthouse parking lots on bicycle -- a beefed-up surveillance effort authorities say will help them spot children left alone in hot cars.

Deputies earlier this summer started patrolling the lots on foot as well. Both methods offer up-close access that squad cars can't, spokeswoman Penny Mateck said.

The increased observation comes on the heels of two July cases in which kids were left unattended in cars outside courthouses in suburban Markham and Bridgeview, Mateck said. In one instance, she said, three children -- ages 3, 4 and 5 -- were in the vehicle for at least 30 minutes while their mother went inside to pay a fine. In the other, a 7-year-old was found "sweating profusely," Mateck said.

Both cases were reported to police by passers-by.

A 2002 law made it a crime in Illinois to leave a child 6 years old or younger unattended in a car for more than 10 minutes. It's also deadly. Studies have shown temperatures soar in locked-up parked cars, even if it's not smoldering outside.

The courthouse problem, Mateck said, is that parents wrongly assume they'll get in and out quickly, and instead get held up at metal detectors and again waiting their turn to pay a fine or see a judge.

Large signs posted at the doors of Cook County courthouses earlier this summer offered a renewed reminder to parents that it's illegal to leave children behind.

The foot and bike patrols, Mateck said, will go a step further, giving deputies a potentially life-saving, up-close look at vehicles in lots.

It's already worked twice at the 26th Street courthouse in Chicago, Mateck said, where officers on the new patrols discovered kids left alone in cars in the past month.

One girl had been sitting on the floor in the backseat, visible only because on-foot officers could see in the window.

The problem hasn't really plagued the Rolling Meadows courthouse, Assistant Chief Burrough Cartrette said. But he said the foot and bike patrols offer an increased, proactive presence just in case.

Two deputies are making the rounds of that three-story parking garage.

The year-round patrols are taking place at the county's five suburban courthouses and at 26th Street. About a dozen deputies were trained this week to patrol on the bikes, learning safety and maintenance procedures.

They'll scour parking areas only when the courthouses are open. Squad cars will continue to patrol outside as well.