Police Department

Gurnee Citizen Police Academy

The Gurnee Citizen Police Academy is a 33-hour block of instruction designed to give the public a working knowledge of the practices, policies, and procedures governing the police department. The instruction consists of eleven 3-hour blocks conducted on a weekly basis. The week 13 session boasts a brief graduate ceremony.

Participants must be at least 18 years of age and of good moral character with no felony convictions.

Classes are held each Thursday evening from 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm.  For more information please contact Education Specialist Tami Martin at (847) 599-7181 or via email.

Class Summary:

Class #27 (March 2016) students wrote a summary of each class. Their writings are below:

Week #7 of the Gurnee CPA class was held on April 14, 2016 and was devoted to internal investigations and the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System (NIPAS) teams.  The attendees were first welcomed by Chief Kevin Woodside.

Internal Investigations: Chief Woodside began his presentation by attacking the myth that the police virtually always protect each other when there is wrongdoing.  The main focus of the presentation was to show the reasons an internal investigation is launched, what happens during these investigations, and how investigations are or can be concluded.

Some of the subjects of internal investigations can include: workplace injuries, accidents or incidents with department vehicles (including pursuits), use of force, officer involved shootings (conducted by the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force in conjunction with the Lake County States Attorney’s Office), harassment, and a host of others.

Chief Woodside indicated that most internal investigations culminate in some form of additional or remedial personnel training.

Northern Illinois Police Alarm System: NIPAS began in 1988 as a joint venture of suburban municipal police departments in the Chicago metro area to pool resources to respond to disasters.  Today, the System includes law enforcement agencies from dozens of communities including Gurnee.  NIPAS is divided into two groups, the Emergency Services Team and the Mobile Field Force.

Emergency Services Team (EST): Gurnee Officer Matt Bender is a member of the EST, sometimes referred to as the SWAT team. This unit reports to critical incidents throughout the five county Chicago metro area. Their assignments may include situations involving weapons of mass destruction, barricaded subjects, hostage situations, high risk/warrant apprehension, and other law enforcement assignments which may require specialized skills and equipment.

Mobile Field Force (MFF): The Gurnee Police Department has a number of officers who are members of the MFF each were a part of the presentation. The Mobile Field Force was formed to deal with crowd control when the 1994 World Cup Soccer Tournament came to the U.S. MFF personnel is dispatched to control unruly crowds, seal off problem areas, rescue citizens or officers from crowds, and apprehend multiple suspects. The presentation concluded with a number of videos from around the country showing Mobile Field Forces addressing demonstrators in a peaceful manner, including those who have locked themselves to various devices.  Special methods, tools and training must be utilized to remove protesters without hurting them.

Next week (04/21/16) students will be exposed to the world of traffic stop scenarios.

Deb (and Tim) Dineen – Current CPA Board Secretary