With a rash of vehicle burglaries and thefts, the Galesburg Police Department has some simple suggestions. Police Chief Russ Idle joined Tom Meredith and Tyler Gumm on "Galesburg's Morning News" to talk about keeping yourself from being a target. http://www.wgil.galesburg.info/audio/10-20-22-Russ.mp3
Galesburg City Council approved an addendum to the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the city's police union on Monday night that will shift police employees to a new schedule. Officers would work 12-hour shifts instead of 8 hours, have more days off, including an opportunity for younger officers to have weekends off. The change isn't immediate. Jan. 1 of 2023 is when it goes into effect. The City has described this as an effort to both recruit officers and support current officers. Police Chief Russ Idle says right now GPD is 8 officers short of what's budgeted for, and 2 of those are in training and not working yet. Interim City Manager Wayne Carl says the city already has seen interest in lateral officer transfers due to some of the incentive programs already approved before Monday. Mayor Peter Schwartzman called the vote a "big deal". He says the vote was an attempt to listen to officers' concerns and he was encouraged it was a unanimous vote. You c
Galesburg City Council on Monday approved a mental health co-responder for the police department and the program looks to start this week. City Manager Todd Thompson says the city has been working on this program for a while and it's similar to ones in Northern Illinois. Thompson says it's a collaboration that brings in the expertise of Bridgeway and the funding from the 708 Board of Mental Health. Police Chief Russ Idle says forward-looking police departments subscribe to the tenants of 21st century policing. 21st century policing philosophy came about during the Obama administration in response to high profile police-civilian conflicts like in Ferguson, Missouri. Idle says one of the things that came out of those studies was that police departments have become a catchall for a number of crises including mental health issues. Idle says police departments are not trained, equipped, or prepared to handle people in those situations. The Chief says it's possible the program