Crete Police Chief Scott Pieritz is a fan of Flock Safety’s license plate readers. Pieritz told the Village Board of Trustees last week that the cameras are a big help in law enforcement.
“In the last couple of months, we have had several police pursuits,” he said.
“The FLOCK camera system has been instrumental in helping us locate and prosecute these offenders. One recent incident involved the capture of a stolen vehicle and juvenile offender, who had an illegal ‘Ghost Gun’ and was reaching for it in a bag when tackled by one of our officers.
“The juvenile was being pursued by other agencies and a police helicopter into Crete. Crete Officers picked up the pursuit and successfully arrested the juvenile after his attempt to flee on foot. The juvenile was charged with multiple felony offenses and detained at River Valley Juvenile Detention Facility. These FLOCK cameras continue to be a huge success in helping us catch dangerous criminals.”
The license plate readers are tied to an alert system with all Will County. For instance, if a vehicle involved in an armed robbery in another village drives past Crete’s LPR, they receive an immediate notification.
But law enforcement officials emphasize it is not “Big Brother.” The system is not monitored, and police departments are restricted by law on any license plate inquiries, unless there is a legitimate enforcement reason.
While the LPRs are helpful in tracking criminals, they also are an advantage when police departments are searching for missing/endangered persons. A year ago, Crete police were able to find an elderly Downers Grove woman who had Alzheimer’s and diabetes and had been missing for more than 24 hours. Her family feared her medical conditions would become life threatening. Crete’s LPR spotted her and enabled the department to pick her up and take her to the hospital, where she was treated and reunited with her family.
Also during his report at the January 13 meeting, Pieritz said:
- Crete Police Administrator Amanda Swanson applied for and received a $10,000 body camera grant from Crete PD’s insurance carrier, IRMA, who made payment to the Village of Crete in December.
- Congratulations were in order for Officer Khalin Niemeyer for graduating from the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center (academy) on December 20. He now has begun his field training program.
- The police department conducted two recent STEP (Sustained Traffic Enforcement Program) details. From November 25 to 27, 2024, Crete PD participated in the “Thanksgiving Day Campaign.” Officers wrote 12 citations during this time. From December 13, 2024 to January 2, 2025, the department participated in the “Christmas/New Year’s Campaign,” for which statistics are pending.
- Upcoming events include the Special Olympics Unified Basketball Game (Police vs. Fire) scheduled for February 25 and the Special Olympics Polar Plunge on March 1. More information will be made available in the near future, Pieritz added.
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