Lisle police lobby hours to be reduced

Starting next month, anyone coming to the Lisle police station overnight or on Sundays and holidays will have to use a phone in a main entrance vestibule and call 911 to have an officer assist them.

It’s all part of a move the Lisle Police Department is making away from having a 24-hour reception and records bureau.

The new schedule, which takes effect June 4, calls for the police station’s main lobby to be open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. The rest of the time, including Sundays and weekends, the lobby will be closed to the public.

Lisle police officials say they’re following an area trend of departments reducing business hours at their facilities.

“This shift in hours will result in additional cost savings for the department with minimum impact to nonemergency service-levels,” Chief James Kosatka said in a statement. “In these still challenging economic times, the Lisle Police Department remains committed to providing effective and fiscally responsible police services, based upon the community’s public safety needs.”

Lisle was able to make the change because of its consolidated dispatch partnership with DuPage Public Safety Communications, or DuComm. The switch to DuComm was made last April.

When someone shows up at the police station after business hours, the dispatcher who receives their phone call will send a police officer to assist them.

Lisle Police Watch Cmdr. Ron Wilke said officers most likely will be at the station when the lobby is closed.

Meanwhile, an analysis by the department shows that most visitors come to the police station during the hours the lobby will be open.

“We don’t get a lot of traffic in there after 10 p.m.” Wilke said. “So it made sense for us to get in line with what the other police departments are doing on our dispatch dial.”

Lisle shares a radio channel with Woodridge and Darien. Both of those police departments already have shifted away from having a 24-hour records bureau.

By making the change, Lisle will be able to eliminate two full-time positions and one part-time position.

“We don’t feel like this will diminish the service that we provide,” Wilke said, “but it will save us some money.” He said he did not know how much money the plan might save.