CL Police Report on St. Patrick’s Crackdown

A press release from the Crystal Lake Police Department:

The Crystal Lake Police Department Completes the St. Patrick’s Holiday Crackdown to Save Lives

A Crystal Lake Police stop on Route 14.

A Crystal Lake Police stop on Route 14.

The Crystal Lake Police Department recently completed participation in the Illinois Department of Transportation’s (IDOT) Sustained Traffic Enforcement Program conducted for the St. Patrick’s holiday.

Law enforcement agencies throughout Illinois participated in this statewide effort from March 13th through the 22nd to save lives by encouraging motorists to refrain from drinking and driving and to buckle up during late-night hours.

Officers were dedicated to four separate details during this campaign, for a total of forty-three hours of additional patrol, specifically targeting impaired, distracted and unbuckled motorists.

During the mobilization, detailed officers from The Crystal Lake Police Department:

  1. Stopped 45 motorists for traffic violations
  2. Issued a total of 41 traffic citations which included:
  • 8 safety belt citations
  • 5 citations for operation uninsured motor vehicle
  • 15 citations for unlawful use of an electronic communications device
  • 10 citations for speeding
  • 3 citations for other moving and non moving offenses

In addition, 3 drivers were arrested for the following offenses:

  • 2 for operating a motor vehicle without a valid driver’s license
  • 1 for DUI alcohol, BAC over .08, and possession of alcohol by a minor

The recent law enforcement crackdown was funded by federal traffic safety funds through IDOT’s Division of Traffic Safety and is part of the statewide “Drive Sober or Get Pulled over” and “Click it or Ticket” campaigns.


Comments

CL Police Report on St. Patrick’s Crackdown — 24 Comments

  1. You hear that, folks?

    You let Crystal Lake put up their own Checkpoint Charlie to demand your papers, and the result of it was nabbing exactly one intoxicated motorist.

    The irony is that we cannot even confirm that this motorist would not have been otherwise arrested with normal policing tactics.

    I hope you feel safer, Crystal Lake voters, because the price you’re paying for these minuscule results is steep.

  2. The joke is on ‘Amerika’.

    Uncle Adolf would be proud ….. Sieg Heil !

  3. Ad naseum.

    STEP is not a road block, it is extra patrols and the officers still require cause to stop you.

    The real irony is, had CLPD not been participating, the DUI driver may have killed someone and I’m willing to bet everyone would have been happy to been in a car accident with the two unlicensed drivers (I’ve had it happen and the insurance was a nightmare…).

    What doesn’t, and can’t, get captured is the thought that perhaps a would be DUI driver or two either called it an early night or didn’t get to that point–so a potential disaster was averted.

    Not the most glamorous use of law enforcement but, last I checked, we all want (and demand) our roads be safe to travel on.

    I’d be willing to bet Uppity, Jim and Fedor are quick to get upset over speeding and other traffic violations…

  4. First, they need to crackdown on a few of their own officers, before they decide that they need to crackdown on St Patricks motorists.

    They have all the information they need to make sure it happens.

    They don’t need to hold a public coffee with the Chief, to hold officers responsible.

    After all, the Sam’s Club video, is very compelling evidence.

    How about it Chief? Make your own officers responsible for themselves?

    Now, that would be serving the public.

  5. really?

    It is nothing more than an organized method of raising revenue.

    The most common traffic tickets raise hundreds of dollars of “court costs” which are nothing short of a rip off of the public.

    The court costs have nothing to do with the costs of “court” but are governments way of generating revenue. Most court costs go back to the arresting jurisdiction.

    Common folk have no chance.

  6. JimB, sure we do.

    First off, court fees are established by the State and County legislature.

    Start there and get those fees back down to reasonable amounts.

    I agree- a $125 ticket shouldn’t cost +$200 in fees, you won’t get an argument from me on that.

    It’s the whole blatant ‘Nazi Germany’ references that are just ridiculous.

    CL is the farthest from a Concentration Camp or Ghetto in the world and claiming a few extra patrol officers pulling traffic violators over is nazi-ism is a slap in the face to all those who lived and died (and had relatives who lived and died) in WWII.

    CLPD is not out gassing and killing citizens so, for the love of God, just stop with the inane rhetoric.

    The point is clear, you hate getting stopped–we all do and we all get it, but don’t use the whole sovereign citizen ‘Nazi’ propaganda, it’s insulting to those who really endured it and–even at the worst–the US is eons on the other end of the spectrum….

  7. Yeah maybe they should have “after cops and jailers” bowling league night crackdown.

    That would probably get a lot more DUI’s.

  8. It’s pretty darn good. Ronnie babe goes by “Wooten” now.

    Don’t know why he changed his last name, it’s a mystery…lol…

  9. Duncan

    Check the historical arrest records at the County or Village of Bull Valley.

    Bull Valley police prey on minorities (Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, etc.) for their “DUI” stops.

    What percentage of their arrests are white folks?

  10. The Bull Valley police have a history of being over zealous bullies on a mission. No doubt!.

    Though, I have to admit, I don’t have the statistics on DUI stops regarding whites vs hispanics, black or Asians.

    If it is disproportionate, that issue needs to be addressed.

    There is no tolerance for racial profiling.

  11. Illinois General Assembly
    COGFA – Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability
    2015 Update – Fiscal Analysis of the Downstate Police & Downstate Fire Pension Funds in Illinois (P.A. 95-0950).

    Note: Police pensions outside Chicago are Article 3 of the Illinois Pension Code.

    Crystal Lake Police Pension Fund
    Funding Ratio History
    Fiscal Year
    2008 – 58.22%
    2009 – 46.06%
    2010 – 54.64%
    2011 – DNA
    2012 – 58.49%
    2013 – 57.41%

  12. Mark….what’s with the shell game about pensions?

    Not the topic of this page.

  13. The police officers receive pensions.

    The public funds police officer pensions.

    The public deserves to know the status and affordability of police officer pensions.

    Indebting future generations and employees for today’s political and union gain is outrageous.

    Repeal the sentence added in 1970 to the Illinois State Constitution that precipitated the pension games via House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 9 (HJRCA 9) in the 99th General Assembly sponsored by Joe Sosnowski (R – Rockford) & Tom Morrison (R – Palatine); then put the measure on an election ballot; then approve the measure at the election.

    Illinois General Assembly
    COGFA – Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability
    2015 Update – Fiscal Analysis of the Downstate Police & Downstate Fire Pension Funds in Illinois (P.A. 95-0950).
    Note: Police pensions outside Chicago are Article 3 of the Illinois Pension Code.
    APPENDIX III
    Article 3 Pension Funds – Funding Status as of FY 2013
    Crystal Lake Police Pension Fund
    Accrued Liability – $51,040,159
    Actuarial Value of Assets – $29,300,645
    Unfunded Liability – $21,739,514
    Funded Ratio – 57.41%

    The Crystal Lake Police Pension Fund is $29,300,645 underfunded.

    The Crystal Lake Police Pension Fund is Twenty Nine Million Dollars underfunded.

    The Crystal Lake Police Pension Fund needs $29 Million Dollars right now to be fully funded so it can obtain the investment income calculated by actuaries to be self sustaining without additional taxpayer funding.

    Taxpayers in Crystal Lake are on the hook for $29 Million Dollars right now just for police.

    That does not include Fire (local property taxes).

    That does not include the employer (state) teacher pension shortfall (state taxes).

    That does not include any IMRF shortfall (local property taxes).

    That does not include the other State pension funds (SURS, SERS, GARS, JRS)….(state taxes).

    That does not include mass transit pension funding.

    Crystal Lake taxpayers owe those pension funds Millions more over and above $29 Million just for police.

    What McHenry County Legislators will sign on as co-sponsors along with Sosnowski and Morrison.

  14. Ooops the Crystal Lake police pensions are underfunded $21 Million not $29 Million.

    $29 Million is the funded portion.

  15. The accrual rate for the Article 3 Downstate Fire & Article 4 Downstate Police (meaning most police and fire outside Chicago other than State Police and County Sheriff and volunteer departments) is 2.5%.

    That is a more generous accrual rate than the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) pension fund which covers school districts outside Chicago, which is 2.2%.

    Downstate police, downstate fire, and TRS accrual rates were hiked via legislation by state legislators and Governors.

    The number of years of service is multiplied by the accrual rate, and the result is multipled by a final average salary, to calculate starting pension.

    Thus, the higher the accrual rate, the higher the starting pension.

    Basically the accrual rate means you accrue (obtain) that percentage of pension per year worked.

    Members in the Downstate Police, Downstate Fire, and TRS pension funds do not contribute to Social Security.

    Members in the IMRF and most members in the SERS (State Employment Retirement System) do contribute to Social Security, and thus receive both a pension and Social Security when they retire.

    There are several types of IMRF pensions including County Sheriff Law Enforcement Plan (SLEP), Elected County Officials (ECO), and there’s even special options available to Police Chiefs.
    http://www.imrf.org/AAmanual/Online_AA_Manual/3.80_c.htm

    Full Social Security retirement for those born 1960 or after is now 67 years old.

    Here are some Social Security calculators.
    http://www.ssa.gov/planners/benefitcalculators.html

    To determine how “fair” public sector pensions are in Illinois you pretty much have to understand Social Security, legislative pension benefit hikes by legislators and Governors, and the public sector salary hikes, for starters.

    Illinois public sector pensions are an unsustainable convoluted mess and they never were designed to be sustainable, they were designed for political gain and to benefit special interests including union lobbyists, union members, and others.

    For the most part, the pay and pensions of police and fire outside Chicago are not in the public pension databases, although they are public record, so one has to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain the information.

    This is a problem.

    The starting salary of police and fire in Chicago suburbs means if their pension were calculated from today’s starting salary, the pension would exceed social security.

    Obviously everyone will retire at higher than their starting salary.

    So the problem is going to get worse.

    The police, fire, and teacher pensions cannot be paid without unacceptable tax hikes or service cuts, which means reform is necessary.

    But the unions fight reform.

    So therefore it seems the only answer is to repeal the pension sentence added in 1970 and reform the pensions.

    The pay and pension hiking schemes were not explained to taxpayers and if you think it’s reasonable for taxpayers to have figured out the tricks, read the 1,500 page Illinois Pension Code and Illinois Pension Scam by Bill Zettler.

    The state bird of Illinois should be the stork with it’s head buried in the sand.

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