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Oak Lawn expands public‑safety tech, eyes new 9‑1‑1 and public‑works campus
Summary
Fire and police chiefs described busy operations: the fire department ran about 10,700 calls in 2024, the police use 47 license‑plate readers and about 3,300 integrated cameras, and officials announced a new 9‑1‑1/public‑works campus at 98th & 55th funded largely with federal grants.
Oak Lawn officials used the State of the Village presentation to outline public‑safety capacity and technology investments and to announce a joint new 9‑1‑1 and public‑works campus.
Fire Chief Mike McMillan said the department — a fully career force operating three stations — handled roughly 10,700 emergency service calls in 2024 and will undergo an Insurance Services Office (ISO) grading review in spring 2025. "We're proud to say Oak Lawn holds the highest grading possible at ISO level 1," he said, and expressed confidence the department will maintain that rating.
Deputy/Division Chief Jim Cummings said the police department has added officers and stressed recruitment and retention; he told the audience the department hired 10 officers since January 2024 and recorded more than 3,000 misdemeanor arrests and nearly 800 felony arrests in 2024. Cummings described upgraded investigative technology: "We have 47 of them" — referring to license‑plate readers — and an integrated camera network of roughly 3,300 cameras that the department and partner businesses and residents use in investigations.
Diana Tusiganan, director of Oak Lawn Regional Communications, outlined plans and funding for a new joint 9‑1‑1 and public‑works campus at 98th and 55th Street. She said federal grants paid for much of the project, the dispatch center will expand from 9 to 13 positions, and the dispatch portion completion is slated for late 2025 or early 2026. Tusiganan noted OLRAC answered 272,399 inbound phone calls in the prior 12 months and serves a regional population of about 146,000 residents across multiple participating municipalities.
Officials emphasized that the investments in staffing and technology are supported by local tax dollars and intergovernmental partnerships and framed the upgrades as necessary to preserve response capacity and public safety.
