MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN CARPENTERSVILLE

Carpentersville Police Department is making waves in the community, becoming more involved and connecting with the people they serve in a meaningful way. Representing three separate chapters in the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, Carpentersville Civilians, Patrol, and Sergeants divisions are working in tandem to make a difference.

CIVILIANS

Beth Pearson, Crime Scene Investigator, and president of Chapter 390 has been a member of MAP for about 20 years. “Our civilian division is made up of several different divisions and when we went to unionize, it was actually the civilians of the police department that petitioned for the union,” says Pearson. “When we were petitioning, the village said they would absolutely accept it, but we had to take on village employees that worked in the village as well, so we took on other divisions because the more, the merrier.” Inside the civilian sector is a records department and community service officers with code enforcement officers, a finance department and other secretarial positions on the village side. “In the civilian chapter, we have a lot of diversity and what I mean by that is that we have a lot of different job descriptions,” says Pearson. “It definitely makes bargaining challenging because you have so many different positions and some are in the police department, while others are not.” Carpentersville civilians seek to be involved in community outreach whenever they can. “Some of our civilian police employees volunteer to do things like Shop with a Cop,” says Pearson. “Right now, one of our patrol officers is deployed overseas. I am the Senior Vice President of the West Dundee VFW, so we adopted his troop and we just sent out over 100 boxes of supplies we collected throughout the community.” MAP helps support their division, offering a well-organized union option. “I would say the comfort of having the union back you in your everyday work is crucial,” says Pearson. “I know I have relied on MAP and have been the president of my chapter since we unionized, but for fellow union employees, should a situation arise, we have the comfort of knowing MAP is there to support us and back us –it’s literally a phone call away.”

SERGEANTS

Sergeant Chris Bognetti is the chapter president for MAP 379 and has been a member with the sergeant’s chapter for two and half years. Before Chapter 379, Bognetti had been a member with MAP in the patrol division since September 2004. “We have eight sergeants – there are six for patrol with two for each shift on days, midnights, and afternoons,” says Bognetti. “I am the detective sergeant in charge of the investigations section. We also have a sergeant in charge of our special operations group, and they do a little bit of everything and anything we need.” With the SAFE-T Act on the horizon, Bognetti notes the need to prepare for a number of differences to the department coming down the line. “There could potentially be some bigger changes coming, depending on how it goes, especially with the pre-trial fairness,” says Bognetti. The sergeant’s division does as much volunteer work in the community as their time allows. “We’re big time involved in Special Olympics, Shop with a Cop –all that stuff,” says Bognetti. “We have golf outings and various fundraisers throughout the year.”

PATROL

Community Engagement Officer Kara Burroughs and MAP member for the last three and a half years, has a passion for positive interaction with the public. “I help out with patrol when they need me,” says Burroughs. “My main thing is being able to go out into the public and getting people to see who we are when we’re not having to be the enforcers.” Carpentersville Patrol runs three overlapping shifts a day with a wide array of officers in the field. “The best part about Carpentersville is the fact that we have such a variety of officers,” says Burroughs. “We have something to cater to every individual within Carpentersville and we have a lot of officers now, especially the younger officers, who want to engage the community, especially with children.” MAP has been a wonderful support system for the patrol division and Burroughs notes the Rapsheet helps buoy morale throughout the department. “Whenever we get copies of MAP, we know there are resources available to us as first responders and we’re able to see what other officers are doing and praise them for their hard work. It helps remind us we’re not these horrible, selfish murderers that some people depict us to be, we’re actually doing a lot of good out in the community.”