N. Aurora officers put best foot forward

Four North Aurora police officers with more than 40 years combined experience on the force recently were recognized for their work in 2010, including Ryan Hooper, who was named the 2010 Officer of the Year.

The North Aurora Lions Club honored Hooper for leading the department in the number of tickets issued, arrests made, and DUI arrests made.

The three-year department veteran also made 14 felony arrests, 18 drug arrests and recovered $7,800 in counterfeit money while investigating a suspicious vehicle.

Three other officers also were nominated: Officer Dave Parr, Officer Robyn Stecklein and Lt. Scott Buziecki.

Parr, a 13-year veteran, helped persuade an elderly resident to leave his filthy home and found three kids whose mother was hiding from an investigation by the Department of Children and Family Services.

Stecklein, a 12-year veteran and the department's crime prevention officer, was nominated for her efforts in several programs such as National Night Out, the Citizens Police Academy and the Illinois Special Olympics.

Buziecki, a 14-year veteran, helped develop, research and implement the department's new Police and Citizens Together (PACT) program and his work on the new police facility, which was completed last year.

The club has named an Officer of the Year since 2005. Supervisors nominate officers and the club decides the winner.

Past winners were: Dan Cyko in 2005; Chris Joswick in 2006; Mike Quinn in 2007; Kristen Lohrstorfer in 2008 and Sgt. Joseph DeLeo in 2009.

Close call:

It's good for the public to be vigilant about suspicious activity, but a healthy game of “geo-caching” recently almost got a 31-year-old man in Montgomery in trouble.

Kane County Sheriffs' deputies at 6:25 p.m. Jan. 22 were called to an abandoned nursery to investigate a suspicious vehicle.

Deputies saw footprints in the snow leading toward the nursery and called for backup and a police dog.

Instead of burglars, they found a man who “explained that he was geocaching in which someone hides an item in a location and posts the coordinates online so others can attempt to locate the items using GPS,” sheriff's reports said.

The man, who was dressed in a winter coat with a GPS, was released.