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Police and public works chiefs outline equipment, staffing and safety priorities for University Park
Summary
New public works and police leadership highlighted immediate operational needs: new plow trucks, sinkhole repairs, technology upgrades for the police (body cameras, evidence audits and a fly-camera system), and staffing shortages affecting service levels.
New public-safety and public-works priorities were the focus of reports to the University Park board on March 24, where department leaders outlined equipment upgrades, staffing constraints and near-term plans.
Antoine T. Russell, introduced at the meeting as public works director, said he had been on the job 16 days and described immediate operational priorities including sinkhole repair on Drively Road, storm cleanup after recent windstorms, storm-drain cleaning and a "patch-by-block" strategy for pothole responses. Russell noted the department was operating with a seven-person crew for a community of roughly 7,000 residents and highlighted the arrival of two brand-new five-ton plow trucks — "the first time in over two decades" the village has had new snow plows, he said.
The police chief (identified in discussion as Chief Starks in the public record) reported enforcement and service statistics, saying officers wrote 186 tickets and responded to 181 calls of service for the month reported. The chief said the department is shorthanded (two officers on day shift, three at night) and described technology and training plans: Axon body-camera upgrades have been obtained and will be deployed after training; the department is exploring grant options for squad-car cameras and installing cameras in interview rooms; an evidence-room audit by an outside forensic-audit firm (described as retired Illinois State Police personnel) was proposed to ensure chain-of-custody and labeling; and the department is working on a critical-incident notification system that will deliver emails and text alerts to trustees and residents.
The police chief also described safety and operational proposals including medical kits for squad cars, a field-training software rollout (Frontline FTO) and expansion of the village's fly-camera (license-plate-reading) system to help investigations.
Board members thanked both department heads and welcomed the hardware and procedural upgrades; trustees and residents asked follow-up questions about staffing, schedule timing for equipment deployment and grant opportunities to fund cameras and other technology.
Next steps: public works will continue sinkhole repairs and storm-drain work and will publicize community engagement (including a truck-naming contest). The police department will train officers on new body cameras, explore grants for squad-car cameras and seek approval for outside evidence-room auditors and other safety purchases.
