Make sure escape can't happen again

A "shackled and handcuffed" prisoner disarms two Cook County state's attorney's office investigators on his way to a sentencing hearing, carjacks two vehicles and robs a bank before crashing his car and being arrested some 26 hours later.

At Monday's village board meeting, Mayor William McLeod chooses to read a letter written by a thankful resident lauding police efforts to capture the escapee. Hoffman Estates Police Chief Clinton Herdegen was quoted as saying, "No one was hurt during the manhunt." Daily Herald writer Ashok Selvam suggested a grant the village is seeking as a kind of "award" for the police work. The $100,000 grant would be used to pay for less than half of the total cost (coming from a bond issue) of a new 12, 970 square foot "green" roof for the brand new police building to be completed next year.

Now that all the backslapping and high fives are over, let's reflect a little differently upon what happened and how "lucky" we were that no one was hurt during this manhunt. Although the police work may have been exemplary AFTER the escape, think about how absurd it is that something like this could have happened in the first place.

Then, instead of the new tree covered roof for the new police building, we may want to consider using the bond money or the suggested grant for improving the security of prisoner transport (i.e. bars between the front and back seats of transport vehicles) so this can never happen again. Next time, we may not be so lucky.

Thomas E. Franzak

Hoffman Estates