Backing Up The Cops: Ron Neukirch

If there's a tornado, flood or other emergency in Niles, Ron Neukirch might knock on your door and help you disconnect your gas or electricity to keep you safe.

If a truck spills a hazardous substance on the street, Neukirch might be directing traffic around it.

If a bad storm knocks out traffic lights, he might be driving around placing flares at intersections. Or, he might be teaching other volunteers.

"Ron has good people skills, good organizational skills and good natural leadership skiils," said Niles Police Sgt. Ron Brandt. "He has emerged as a natural leader of the group."

That would be the CERTS (Community Emergency Response Team) group, made up of trained volunteers who are on call to assist the police department in extraordinary circumstances. In an emergency, they perform routine duties which free up police officers for more intense tasks.

Earning a statewide award

The Niles Police Department has asked Neukirch to be field operations supervisor (a volunteer position) for CERTS and its parent group, VIPS (Volunteers in Police Service). 

Last fall, Neukirch, who just turned 72, got a notable honor for his volunteer work. The Illinois Crime Prevention Association gave him its Citizen of the Year award. 

While he appreciated the honor, he has more practical and civic-minded reasons for doing the volunteer work. 

"There's a budget crunch, and there aren't as many police as there were five years ago. So we help them," Neukirch said. 

Retiring and finding a new vocation

He found this vocation after retiring from his 46 and a half year career as an elevator constructor. He worked for a company that sent him around the country installling elevators, and he enjoyed hunting and fishing on the side.

His son Scot, the village of Niles' finance director, suggested to the then-new retiree that he might enjoy taking the Citizens Police Academy class, which the police department teaches to residents interested in learning more about police work.

Ron Neukirch took the class in 2007, had a heart attack, recovered, then took the class over again in 2008 with his wife Patricia. They both volunteered to serve in the CERTS program. 

"That's when I made up my mind I wanted to get involved with it," he said.

In the course of his duties, he has:

• Blocked off streets and directed traffic for the Fourth of July parade, the Torch Run and other holidays and events.
• Directed traffic for the Our Lady of Guadelupe procession, in which religious pilgrims walk up Milwaukee Avenue from Chicago to a shrine at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines. It's always in December and always involves standing out in the cold for several hours until the middle of the night.
• Distributed safety information at National Night Out, a one-night event usually held in early August and designed to engage the public in safety and law enforcement information.
• Collected donations for the Dunkin Donuts law enforcement fundraiser for Special Olympics.
• Become a trainer for other CERTS and VIPS volunteers.
• Set out flares during last summer's storms, which knocked out power to traffic lights.
• Put simulator goggles on people at a Safety Week display booth, so they can see how vision--and thus driving ability--is impaired by drinking alcohol.
• Been called in the middle of the night to show up and help out with various needs. That's why he carries a CERTS uniform and reflective vest in his car.

But it was Patricia who answered the call during Niles' most dramatic emergency, when a tanker truck overturned and spilled liquid cargo at Harlem and Oakton in August 2009. Ron was out of state, so Patricia helped direct traffic for almost 10 hours.

Ron also makes sure to note that Patricia works part-time and puts in a lot of volunteer hours at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital's information desk.

The guy who shows up when you have a flat

CERTS may be a natural fit for Neukirch, who says he's the kind of guy who, when he spotted someone on the side of the road with a flat tire, would pull over to help.

"If my wife was in trouble, I'd expect somebody else to give her a hand," he said. "I like giving to people."

Police are glad to have him, they say, as well as the other CERTS volunteers, including Maryanne Miller, who is the administrative supervisor. If called upon for an emergency, she'll help manage the police department's phones while Neukirch manages volunteers in the field, Brandt said.

Niles Police Chief Dean Strzelecki also saluted Neukirch.

“Ron exemplifies the meaning of the word volunteer," Strzelecki said. "Always ready to help, with a positive attitude and getting the task at hand done.” 

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