Winnetka IL March
21. 2025
Facing challenges
with filling open positions on its police department, the Winnetka Village
Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement with a private security
firm to supplement its police department and boost its patrol presence
throughout the Village.
The agreement with
P4 Security Solutions, of Downers Grove, will take effect April 1, according to
the Village.
Winnetka Police
Chief Brian O’Connell told the council on Tuesday, March 18, that over the past
few years the North Shore, including Winnetka, has seen an increase in certain
crimes, such as burglaries to businesses, homes and vehicles, as well as car thefts.
O’Connell said
with the changes, there have also been increases in criminals using firearms.
As previously reported by The Record, this includes two notable incidents in
Winnetka from last year: an attempted armed robbery last July and a shootout on
Sheridan Road last May.
Adding to the
challenges faced by law enforcement are a lack of applicants for open
positions, he said.
“Over the last few
years, when it comes to recruitment and retention, with the increase in crime,
we’ve also seen struggles with recruitment,” O’Connell said. “And this is a
problem and a challenge that we’re seeing across the country in the field of
law enforcement.”
He added that
“balancing the staffing shortages while maintaining community safety is a worry
and it’s a concern,” and said it can take up to a year for a new police recruit
to be fully trained and be ready to patrol on their own.
“How do we
maintain the appropriate level of safety for our community while being unable
to fill vacancies immediately?” O’Connell asked. “It’s a hard question to
answer.”
The
“outside-the-box” solution, he said, was to hire a third-party security company
to supplement patrol operations, which led them to P4 Security Solutions.
According to
O’Connell, P4 hires off-duty and retired law enforcement officers to patrol
areas and help deter crime. Among the agency’s clients are Northwestern
University, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the Chicago Bears, and the
Chicago neighborhoods of Streeterville, Lincoln Park and Bucktown, among
others.
The goal is to have P4 assist with tasks including patrols, directing traffic, securing crime scenes if necessary, and being a presence within the Village.
P4 employees will
not be able to make arrests or issue tickets, according to the board packet,
though they will be armed, in uniform and drive their own vehicles, which will
be white instead of black, like the Winnetka Police Department’s vehicles.
He also said there
is $500,000 in the Village’s 2025 budget for contracted services, and that
around $367,000 of that will go to P4. Additionally, the contracted security
professionals will work from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Steve Vitale,
president and principal of P4, told the council that the security officers will
not replace the police department.
“Our job here is
to observe, report and deter,” he said. “It’s not meant to replace the police.
We’re not looking for suspicious people, we’re looking for suspicious activity,
and then communicating that with the police department.”
O’Connell also
stressed that P4 will not be a substitute for the Winnetka Police Department.
“By supplementing
our patrol officers with P4, Winnetka Police can continue to ensure the highest
level of security, increase community engagement, and optimize resource
allocation,” he said. “And while the end goal still remains to increase our
sworn police officer staffing, P4 can provide us that immediate fill, where we
can have an immediate presence and expertise in contributing to a safer and
more secure community.”
Trustees voiced
support for P4.
“I think this is a
great intermediate solution, and we do love our police. There’s no question,”
Trustee Bridget Orsic said. “We think that they deal with all of the community
members with the highest level of professionalism, and anything we can do to relieve
the stress that being understaffed causes, I think we’re all more than happy to
do.”
Village President
Chris Rintz said the Village and police department have been discussing this
for around 18 months.
“Understand that
there’s been a lot of diligence and a lot of effort trying to find a good
solution to how we protect our community, especially in this time where we
don’t have enough bodies to fill the positions,” he said.
P4’s contract runs
until Dec. 31, 2026.