Police Chief Talks Shop with La Grange Residents

Residents who showed up to an informal question and answer session at on Wednesday night got a casual back and forth with La Grange's chief of police, Michael Holub, and Village Trustee Bill Holder on a wide range of public safety issues in the village.

The meeting was sponsored by the Citizens' Council of La Grange—a non-partisan volunteer organization that seeks to inform residents about local issues and seek out and recommend candidates for local offices.

Holub approached the meeting as an easy-going, back-and-forth with residents, at times joking and telling stories as he answered resident's questions about __reported last month, traffic safety on 47th Street and outlining his strategy for heading La Grange's police department.

"Community policing is our philosophy for the way we approach things," Holub told the audience. "It's a two-way street. We want people tell us: are we hitting the mark, are we missing the mark?"

Holub said the old "Joe Friday, Dragnet-style cop" was a thing of the past, and his department tries to share information with residents and the media as much as possible, with an ideal to create a department that is more proactive than reactive.

"We want to get in front of stuff," Holub said about the department's focus. "Only about 20 percent of our calls are for a crime or an arrest. The rest are service-oriented calls."

White Van Incidents

In response to questions about a recent string of reports about__approaching children, he said the stories have, "developed a life of their own."

Holub told residents that police are not convinced that any of the incidents had been an attempt to kidnap a child, but that, "We'd rather have you call a hundred times... than to not call the time it's important."

Holub said that police wanted residents to know it was something they were monitoring and to be able to use the opportunity to remind parents and schools to talk with children about dealing with strangers.

Holub said that with incidents where the safety of residents is of concern—he referenced _—the department would alert residents using the automated Code Red alert system to call residents, and send information via text and email. Holub added that police believe they know who was behind the burglaries, but have had trouble getting enough evidence to arrest the suspects.

Traffic Safety

In regard to traffic safety, Holub said the department generally feels that there are no major traffic engineering flaws on 47th Street. He added the department is using "speed sentry" signs that show drivers how fast they are driving to collect information about traffic patterns.

Trustee Bill Holder also commented on traffic safety issues along 47th Street, and said information from the signs has been "invaluable" to the village. Holder said he would still like to see another cross walk added to 47th Street in La Grange, but spoke of the "glacial pace" of traffic studies and reviews at the state level to get one put in.

"If it was an easy as just going out and painting some lines, we'd go do it now," Holder said. Streets such as 47th Street, La Grange Road and Ogden Avenue are under control of the Illinois Department of Transportation, and dealing with the levels of bureaucracy can be "frustrating," Holder said.

Sharing Services with Surrounding Communities

Village presidents from La Grange, La Grange Park and Western Springs will meet soon to continue discussions about the ways that the communities can share police and fire services. Holder said that studies so far have been optimistic about the possible benefits of sharing services. More work needs to be done still, Holder said, but added it could help reduce costs and provide better service to residents.

"We already have a lot of interconnectivity," Trustee Michael Horvath, who was also in attendance to listen, said about the neighboring villages helping each other out on calls.