Orland Park Police Partner With ATF To Process Federal Evidence

ORLAND PARK, IL — Orland Park officials voted to approve a partnership between the village and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at Monday's board meeting. The agreement would mean south suburban evidence technicians could process federal evidence for the ATF at Orland Park's police facility.

The Joint Law Enforcement Operations State and Local Overtime Funding agreement, also called SLOT, was approved unanimously after a presentation from Orland Park Police Chief Joseph Mitchell told board members being chosen for the partnership was an honor.

"[ATF felt] that we have the expertise to do that," Mitchell said at the meeting. "We have state-of-the-art equipment, and they have seen the results taking place in state court regarding our forensic analysis and extraction."

Despite local law enforcement's updated forensic processing equipment, Mitchell told Patch the agreement meant federal authorities will send additional equipment to the Orland Park police station.

For technicians, the change doesn't mean they will be slower to respond to Orland Park cases, Mitchell said technicians can opt to process federal evidence outside of their village hours for time and a half pay.

According to village trustees, Orland Park police currently take around one to two days to process evidence. Mitchell told Patch state officials could have a wait time of up to 10 months to process fingerprints and other physical evidence.