'Saving lives is always a worthy cause': Local police donating gear to Ukrainians in the war
Local police departments are supporting Ukrainians fighting against Russia's invasion.
And it's not just “thoughts and prayers” they're sending, but protective vests and other gear.
The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police put out the call for items March 9, on behalf of retired Mokena police chief Steven Vaccaro.
Vaccaro's sister, Jennifer Doloski, has adopted three children from Ukraine in the last decade, working with Hand of Help in Adoption, a Ukrainian adoption organization. The founder of the organization was killed Feb. 26 in Kiev, by sniper fire, according to Doloski.
Two members of the group then asked their American clients for bulletproof vests, for volunteer combatants.
The vests are being sent to an intermediary in Poland, working with people to get them to Ukraine.
Doloski asked her brother to reach out to his contacts. “This has snowballed into so much more” than she expected, she said, with donations of 315 vests and 90 helmets as of Wednesday.
The McHenry Police Department was among the first to answer the call, and this week donated 77 “retired” vests to Ukraine. Retired means a vest is past its expiration date, but not necessarily any less effective at protecting its wearer, Officer Michael Spohn explained to us.
“We hope our ballistic vests will help protect the Ukrainian people who are trying to defend their country,” Spohn said. “We hope our vests will save lives. Saving lives is always a worthy cause.”
Another donor is the Kane County sheriff's office, which has sent eight full military body armor sets, some spare panels, goggles, web gear, seven ballistic helmets, canteens, gloves, trauma dressings, a trauma blanket and camouflage paint.
Doloski is also seeking money to cover shipping costs. Donations are being funneled through Reece's Rainbow Special Needs Adoption Support, a 501c(3)-registered nonprofit organization.
The Copernicus Foundation and Center of Chicago, a Polish cultural organization, is also collecting vests. It shipped 30 vests Wednesday, which were expected to arrive in Poland Thursday, according to director Kamila Sumelka. The organization wants to get the vests there quickly, “because there is no time to waste,” Sumelka said.
She said that even though used vests may not offer the same protection as new vests, “it is better to have this protection than none,” she said.
Besides going to fighters, the vests will also be distributed to civilians, Sumelka said, including humanitarian workers and children and other refugees trying to leave Ukraine.
The center expects to receive large donations Friday from the Norridge Police Department and the University of Chicago Police Department, she said, and will continue to collect from other departments indefinitely.
Items may be dropped off from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays; and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave., Chicago.
One pesky question: Is it legal to send these items overseas?
Federal laws, including the International Traffic In Arms Regulations and Export Administration Regulations, control what kind of munitions can be shipped overseas, and, yes, the vests police wear are regulated items. We reached out to the State Department to find out if they are allowed — but they referred us to the Commerce Department, which has not answered our query.
Sumelka said the Copernicus Foundation checked with U.S. and Polish authorities to make sure Poland will accept its donations. Doloski said her brother also consulted with authorities.
Task force sets records
The Lake County sheriff's office Special Investigations Group — a multijurisdictional task force targeting drug and gang crime in the county — posted another record year in 2021, seizing nearly $5 million in illegal drugs and 54 illegally possessed firearms, authorities said.
The group also dismantled a local street gang and stopped two drive-by shootings that had been ordered by a gang, according to the sheriff's office.
“I firmly believe our expanding of SIG over the past few years created a robust and proactive enforcement group, where we can focus on violence, drug trafficking and human trafficking,” Sheriff John D. Idleburg said this week. “This has undoubtedly saved lives from being lost to violence and drug overdose.”
According to the sheriff's office, the group's haul last year included nearly 70 pounds of powder cocaine; more than 11 pounds of methamphetamine; more than three pounds of heroin; nearly eight pounds of ketamine; more than five pounds of illegally trafficked cannabis; and hundreds of grams of crack cocaine, Ecstasy and fentanyl.
The task force also is focusing on human trafficking.
“They've made dozens of human trafficking-related arrests since refocusing their efforts in 2019,” Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli told Daily Herald Staff Writer Doug Graham earlier this week. “They also rescued a juvenile victim of human sex trafficking as well as several adult women.”
Among the dozen law enforcement agencies joining the sheriff's office on the task force are the FBI, Homeland Security, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Round Lake Beach and Wauconda police departments.
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