South Cook News

City of Palos Heights Public Safety Committee met Feb. 22.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Call to Order/ Roll Call

The Public Safety Committee meeting was held at the Palos Heights City Hall. Chairman Basso called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. In attendance were Chairman Basso, Alderman Lewandowski, and Alderman McGovern, and Alderman Clifford. Also in attendance were Chief Yott, Deputy Chief Czajkowski, and Recording Secretary Gina Marcotte.

Approval of Minutes

Alderman Basso moved to approve the minutes of the October 26, 2021 Public Safety meeting, seconded by Alderman Clifford. All in favor. Motion carried.

Police Chief Yott reported as follows:

POLICE ACTIVITY REPORT

601 total calls for service for January, 2022

TRAFFIC CRASH REPORT

Hit & Run 8

Property Damage 26

Personal Injury 2_

TOTAL 36

MISCELLANEOUS REPORTS

a) Police Department Budget Report

b) Red Light Report – 103 violations

c) MSI Report – 10 citations issued

d) Training Report - 240 hours

e) DUI Summary - 2 arrests

Old Business

None

Correspondence/Employee Recognition

• Congratulations to Officer Jake Wiegand who has successfully completed his twelve-month probationary period with the Palos Heights Police Department.

• Officer Forrest Marcinowski was nominated by Officer Joe Carlson for Peer Recognition Award. A resident was struggling with home life and work responsibilities and PHPD had numerous service calls at this residence, during one of the final contacts, his wife was especially complementary to the care and compassion Forrest showed both her, and her husband during histroubles.

• One of the Administrator'sfrom Promedica, which isthe new operator of the former Manor Care facility, was very impressed and highly complementary of the professionalism both displayed by our PHPD and PHFD officers.

• Sergeant Jeff Crowley nominated both Officer Tony Delaney and Officer Eric Czajkowski for Peer Recognition Award. Both officers responded to an incident for an ambulance assist. They were immediately met by the patient's wife who directed them tothe victim who was lying on the floor, unresponsive. Without delay, they initiated CPR until the fire department arrived to take over. They were able to console the wife while obtaining pertinent medical information about the victim. The victim's wife was most appreciative to both departments and couldn't thank them enough.

• On Tuesday, December 28, 2021, at approximately 2:17AM, an armed robbery was reported at the Shell gas station, located at 12121 S Ridgeland Ave. Palos Heights police officers, who had recently completed a fatal automobile crash, responded to and secured the scene. They learned from the victim clerk that two male suspects entered the gas station, one being armed with a handgun, and ordered the clerk to the ground. Lottery tickets, cigarettes, and cash were taken during the armed robbery. Palos Heights PD crime scene investigators processed the scene and video surveillance footage was analyzed.

Palos Heights PD detectives spearheaded and lead a multi-jurisdictional effort with police departments locally, and as far away as Jasper County, Indiana, as they had similar incidents occur within their jurisdictions.

On February 1, 2022, Palos Heights detectives took the suspect, 30 year-old Sedgwick REAVERS into custody, subsequently acquiring and executing search warrants on residences and vehicles associated with REAVERS in Chicago, IL in the following hours.Evidence corroborating REAVERS’s involvement with the armed robberies was seized as a result of the search warrants.

On February 2, 2022, Palos Heights detectives presented the case to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, at which time felony approval was given for Armed Robbery and Unlawful Use of a Weapon, receiving substantial bonds of$2 million dollars for eachArmed Robbery charge, and $1 million dollars for a violation of bond.

The Palos Heights Police Department prides itself on providing top-quality professional services to the community we serve, with our capabilities and professionalism unmatchedby departments of similar size, as we daily provide services typically associated with large departments.

We thank our community for the resounding praise we received on social media for our success in this investigation, and Sergeant Parnitzke individually recognized the extraordinary work done by the following members with letters of recognition:

Officer Helseth, Officer Castor, Officer Clark, Officer Delaney, Officer Droba, OfficerEvans, Detective Hutchinson, Officer Marcinowski, and Officer Paluch.

Public Comment

None

Aldermen's Comments

Alderman Basso thanked and congratulated the police department on all their special recognitions and hard work.

Alderman Clifford discussed a scam that was occurring, in which the caller would say they are with a police association and would ask for donations. He asked that Chief Yott make the public aware in their safety report.

Alderman Basso addressed scams online, such as on dating websites and noted that people should be aware of them as well.

Alderman Basso also addressed concerns with mailboxes that have mail being stolen. Alderman Basso advised that if residents have important mail going out, do not put it in your mailbox outside with the flag up, but instead drop it off at your local post office.

Alderman Bosso discussed wellbeing calls and discussed with Chief Yott about a program that the fire department uses called the Knox Box program. A Knox Box is a small safe that holds keys for fire departments, emergency medical services, and sometimes police to retrieve in emergency situations. There are residents that even have these boxes attached to their door knob. Local fire departments can hold master keys to all boxes in their response area, so that they can quickly enter a building without having to use forced entry. If someone calls the police for a wellbeing check this would be very useful. It was agreed by the Aldermen that this program would be beneficial and they would inquire more information and would also start making information available to residents so they are aware of this program and how they can join.

New Business

Alderman Clifford noted there are new businesses opening soon. He stated there would be a new butcher shop and Mexican restaurant opening soon. He also noted that the new business, Pride store will be starting construction soon and the opening of Pete’s Market has been moved up.

Adjourn

There being no further business, Chairman Basso made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Alderman Clifford. All in favor. Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 6:50 pm.

https://palosheights.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_02222022-639