Burr Ridge Adding Another Cop Position, Increasing 'Patrol Flexibility'

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge is adding another police officer position, bringing the total to 31.

On Monday, the Village Board approved Police Chief Marc Loftus' request for the officer.

Earlier this year, the board authorized the department to hire two more officers, increasing the force to 30. The village had long had 28.

The addition comes as the village expects more income.

Recently, the village eliminated its property tax, but raised the sales tax, netting an estimated $1 million more a year.

"Consider what happens when an officer is unavailable, whether from a vacancy, illness, training or other absence," Loftus told the board. "The impact is felt immediately, patrol flexibility is reduced, overtime goes up, and there are fewer opportunities for proactive policing. Adding this position will greatly reduce those impacts."

The trustees' vote was unanimous.

"An additional police officer will help us achieve maximum public safety here in the village of Burr Ridge," Trustee Guy Franzese said.

With the new officer, Burr Ridge will have 2.8 officers for every 1,000 people, compared with 1.5 in Elmhurst.

The trustees also agreed to convert a part-time records coordinator position into a full-time deputy village clerk.

Earlier this year, the village created the part-time position because of a deluge of public records requests.

The village has seen a 77 percent hike in Freedom of Information Act requests in the last two years, up from fewer than 200 six years ago.

Other towns have reported similar surges, particularly for video. It can take eight hours to review and redact 20 minutes of footage, Loftus said.

And lawyers get involved, too.

"I have two attorneys who have half their practice time devoted to reviewing FOIA requests and advising about redactions," the village's lawyer, Michael Durkin of the Storino, Ramello & Durkin law firm, told the board. "It's multiplied like rabbits."

He said he is seeing such increases with his other municipal clients.

In response to Patch's inquiry, Loftus said some of the increase can be attributed to AI bots. But he noted a new provision in the law allows a public body to verify if a requester is human before working on a request.

The deputy clerk will handle requests for the entire village government, not just the police department.