Police departments to use verdict as lesson

Suburban police departments plan on using Wednesday’s guilty verdict in the police brutality case against a Streamwood officer to affirm their own policies on use of force.

“Certainly you reinforce that you use only the force necessary to make the arrest,” Naperville Deputy Chief Gary Bolt said. “I’m sure we will discuss this at our roll calls with officers. I’m sure our officers are already talking about it.”

Police departments regularly educate their officers on changing force practices as law cases unfold across the country, but this was a straightforward violation, Prospect Heights Chief Jamie Dunne said.

“I don’t think there was anything in the Streamwood incident that would cause a change in our policy,” Dunne said. “Clearly he was out of policy, which is why they terminated him. I know that in the Northwest suburbs especially, use of force is something that is routinely reviewed by officers.”

The Lake in the Hills Police Department is looking at the case as a localized lesson for its officers.

“I’m not going to judge — that’s for the judge or jury — but we can try to use things like this as a learning experience for our current officers so that they know that if they have to use force, it has to be at an acceptable level,” said Jim Wales, director of public safety.

Not every police department has camera systems installed in their squad cars because of the costs involved, but those who do say the systems, more times than not, exonerate their officers from false claims.

“There are certainly advantages to having cameras in the car to quell any allegations made against any officers,” Bolt said. “The flip side of that is when there is misconduct it is caught on film. In this particular situation it would appear that the video provided some overwhelming evidence in this case.”

Area departments were split on whether they thought the verdict would encourage more lawsuits against their officers.

“Some people may or may not find encouragement from the verdict,” Bolt said. “Hopefully they will not.”

Prospect Height’s Dunne agreed.

“Certainly in this area people don’t hesitate to bring action against law enforcement if they have been wronged,” he said. “I believe this to be an isolated incident and I don’t think it’s a reflection on law enforcement in general.”

Ÿ Daily Herald staff writer Charles Keeshan contributed to this report.