CRIME FIGHTING COOPERATION

By GARY KUPSAK, Chief of Police — Vernon Hills

For many years as the Chief of Police of a relatively small agency, the feeling that more needs to be done to take advantage of the resources and experience of larger, more resource endowed law enforcement agencies has prevailed. This interest in cooperative efforts/ mutual aid was never more apparent when on November 27, 1989, our agency (Vernon Hills, Illinois Police Department — population 16,000 — twenty-nine (29) sworn officers) experienced a brutal homicide. Since agencies such as ours, and smaller agencies make up approximately 93% of the law enforcement agencies in the United States, and since we deal with very few of these violent crimes, it took a considerable amount of time to marshall forces (a spur of the moment task force) to deal with the investigation. Within a twenty-four (24) hour period, in addition to this agency's two full-time detectives, eighteen (18) to twenty (20) state, county, and municipal officers were gathered to work on the case. Fortunately, through the herculean efforts of all associated with the operation, the offenders were identified, arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. But after the glow and exhilaration of the successful conclusion of the arrest and conviction waned, the post-mortem of the operation left some questions that mandated additional thinking. General agreement was that it took a great deal of time to request and obtain support from surrounding agencies to form the task force. In addition, a great deal of duplication of effort took place due to the fact that leads were followed up on by multiple teams when there was no coordinated effort of assignment of lead follow up. Yes, the crime was solved, but how could that solution be done more efficiently, and in a more organized fashion?

An idea germinated! The creation of a full-time task force to deal with homicides and other heinous crimes would be of tremendous benefit to the agencies such as mine who did not have the personnel or resources to assign twenty (20) officers to said investigation. The key to this task force was that the members would commit to remain together, train together, and be assigned to all major crimes/homicides when they were requested. The impact of this group was that by staying together, the effectiveness and efficiency of this squad would be unparalleled. To further the idea, discussions began with the county State's Attorney, the county Sheriff, and the commander of the State Police Investigations Unit regarding the proposed concept. All agreed that it seemed feasible to create a unit of 20-25 experienced criminal investigators and evidence technicians that would meet, train and be assigned to investigate (when requested by a police agency within Lake County, Illinois) major cases. After numerous discussions on just exactly what major cases were, a decision was made that the definition of "major case" was homicides, police officer related shootings and other heinous crimes.

The next step was to sell the idea to the forty (40) Chiefs of Police in Lake County, Illinois. Through the efforts of the Lake County Chiefs of Police Association and through forums provided by the Lake County Sheriff's Department, introductory seminars and meetings were conducted to introduce the concept of the "Lake County Major Crimes Task Force." As you may imagine, question after question, and concern after concern arose related to the creation and implementation of the squad. Who would ultimately be in charge of the squad when activated (the Chief of Police of the requesting agency or the commander of the task force), where would media briefings be held, who would hold them, who would have control of the investigation itself? These were all very valid and, at times, perplexing issues in the creation of this squad. Admittedly, not all chiefs jumped on the Major Case Squad band wagon immediately. Sometimes the politics of our positions, the jurisdictional ego inflation of our command, and the realization that we are not all powerful and must sometimes ask for help, was, at times, a tough nut to crack. But the nut was in fact cracked. Through the efforts of the sub-committee of the county police chiefs association to study the concept, an executive board of the squad was formed. This executive committee (made up of Chiefs from throughout the county based on geographic and department size consideration) set a solid, well thought-out plan for task force creation. This plan included:

1. Developing a Mutual Aid Agreement.

November 1993 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 9

2. Developing By-Laws for Major Case Task Force.

3. Seek application for membership in group by county law enforcement agencies (to continue with program, a goal of at least 80% membership by Lake County Police Chiefs was set).

4. Elect the executive board (as specified by bylaws and mutual aid agreement).

5. Developing criteria for membership on the squad itself (commanders, investigators, evidence technicians and public information officers).

6. Interview candidates and select the members of the Major Case Squad.

7. Develop Squad concept and begin training.

The law enforcement administrators of Lake County, Illinois, through the cooperation of county, state and municipal leaders, have developed a model for the efficient and effective investigation of major cases. It wasn't easy, it took a great deal of convincing that this group would not supersede the command of an individual Chief's authority, but it did succeed. As of this writing, the squad has been activated on three (3) occasions. Of these three incidents, the squad has been instrumental in proving that two of the incidents were definitely not homicides, and the third remains under investigation. These initial successes are exactly what we had hoped for, and reconfirm in our minds the fact that all of our efforts and pre-activation tribulations were well worth it. The officers who make up the squad, as are their "Dr. Frankensteins," anxious for more activations, and opportunities to contribute to a professional law enforcement effort in the county.

What happened here, can happen in your area. It is as simple as committing to cooperate and loose the ego involvement that is often a part of police administrative efforts. If you should have any questions about squad formation, or plan implementation, I would be glad to discuss the concept/plan with you, or send you information covering our development. I can be reached at the Vernon Hills Police Department, 754 Lakeview Parkway, Vernon Hills, Illinois 60061, telephone (708) 367-3729. Do yourself and your law enforcement colleagues a favor and look into this concept. We believe your interest will be well worth the effort. •

Page 10 / Illinois Municipal Review / November 1993