In a situation that has become commonplace in police departments across America over the past four years, Forest Park’s department has had to operate with understaffing. Although it was designed to have 38 sworn officers, the force was limited to 31 officers in 2021. Now Police Chief Ken Gross says his department has 34 officers on the force and three more are being trained to join the force shortly.
Gross recently said he hopes to bring in another new hire this year that will bring the department to full strength.
There are two main reasons for the understaffing of police departments across the country. One was the intense and deserved reaction many Americans felt toward police after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Undoubtedly, this has made patrolling more difficult and less attractive as a result. But the objections raised by protesters and reformers about the way police treat citizens, particularly citizens of color, are entirely valid, and we have seen some progress in enforcing more community-based policing and greater officer accountability.
However, combined with the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic, this resulted in many officers retiring early and few candidates applying for police positions.
Gross admits that the events of 2020 “have decimated the profession.”
But now the number of people taking the civil service exam in Forest Park has slowly recovered. In 2017, 51 people took the exam in Forest Park. In 2022, there were only 16. In February 2024, 39 people took the exam.
This is good news for Forest Park. A full roster of officers means less overtime, the opportunity to take on new projects and some relief for the higher-ranking officers who have been forced to work patrol duties at times.
We are seeing positive changes in the way this department engages with residents and visitors. This change agenda must remain focused and reflect community input.
Overambitious with D209?
In 2022, Proviso Township high schools made a bold, but in our opinion ill-conceived, decision: They expanded the International Baccalaureate program not only to Proviso Math and Science Academy, but also to Proviso East and Proviso West high schools.
PMSA is a selective enrollment high school. East and West are not. In fact, these two schools perform very poorly on state test scores and need major improvement and rethinking. Sugar-coating these mistakes does not help most students. Currently, the school board is considering eliminating IB from East and West because enrollment in this program is very low.
Our proposal would be to continue the IB program for one more year in the hope and expectation that this committee will finally appoint a permanent superintendent whose job it would be to make a recommendation on the IB program as part of a larger and much more ambitious plan to rebuild East and West academically from the ground up.
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