Pingree Grove adds full-time cop

The little police force that could took another step toward becoming a 24/7 operation Monday night when in Pingree Grove trustees bumped Sgt. Shawn Beane up to a full-time position.

Beane, who has been the department's part-time sergeant for 11 months, will be responsible for scheduling, overseeing the patrol aspects of the force and assisting Police Chief Carol Lussky with some administrative work.

"I think it's great," Beane said. "There's still a lot of work to be done. You need two people full time to get it up to speed."

Beane joins Lussky, who was hired full time last month.

Lussky, the first police chief in the village's history, will make $87,500 a year, said Village President Clint Carey. She had been working there as the part-time chief for the past 16 months.

Beane will make roughly $70,000 a year. He began his law enforcement career in 1977 with the Schiller Park Police Department and serves as a trainer and consultant to a pair of crisis tactical response teams in Wisconsin and Iowa.

Before he came to Pingree Grove, he worked in the Hanover Park Police Department for 21 years with Lussky.

Beane's elevation comes on the heels of a $20,000 PAR Group study that laid out various staffing scenarios for Pingree Grove's police force.

"We're going to use a model with two full-time police officers for now and we're also raising our part-time pay to be competitive with surrounding communities," Carey said.

Six such part-time officers would join the force of four part-timers within the next few months, Lussky said.

This gives the department a bigger pool of officers to choose from when it comes to staffing.

While Pingree Grove is far from being a hotbed of crime, but there has been some activity in recent weeks, Lussky said.

They include a joyride, weather-related traffic accidents and domestic disputes.

"It's not Mayberry, we have things going on," Lussky said.