Schaumburg police chief says cops will partner with businesses

New Schaumburg Police Chief Brian Howerton wants the village's business community to consider his employees to be theirs.

Howerton, who was named chief in March after 28 years in the department, spoke to the Schaumburg Business Association at its monthly breakfast meeting Tuesday at Chandler's Grille.

Despite making great strides in the residential areas of the village through a community policing program during the past 15 years, Howerton said the department hasn't done quite as good a job with the business community.

"We're all stakeholders in this community," he said. "We all want this community to be as safe as it can be."

Creating strong partnerships in the community is even more necessary with financial strains on the police force, Howerton said. Staffing reductions have made the minimum daily personnel on the streets only 10 patrol officers for the village of 76,000 residents and many more workers and shoppers.

"We need your eyes and ears," Howerton told business owners. "We need you to call the police when necessary."

He spoke about the department's permanent beat system in which officers are assigned to a particular area and shift for at least a year, creating mutual familiarity between them and the families and businesses they serve.

Howerton cited the example of a local apartment complex that reached out to officers for help and has become a much better place in the past nine months.

In addition to being able to contact beat supervisors easily by phone, there are also beat team meetings at 7:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month in the department's community room at 1000 W. Schaumburg Road.

Howerton clarified that residents or businesses can call 911 for any reason requiring a police or fire response, while nonemergency questions can be answered by calling 311. He said Schaumburg is the only department in the region other than Chicago's to have a 311 system.

He also spoke of new technology the force is adopting, including a reverse 911 system that sends out recorded alerts and a radio tracking system allowing lost people with autism or Alzheimer's who are wearing special wristbands to be easily found.