No Police Department is an Island

The old adage that says "The sum of the parts is greater than the whole" is so true in the area of current law enforcement. To this end, the Lincolnshire Police Department is a member of numerous regional task forces which handle everything from searches to murder investigations. The beauty of these arrangements is found in both the tremendous cost savings, but also in the extraordinary high level of training and expertise the members of these task forces bring to the table. In Lake County for example, the largest departments, the Lake County Sheriff's Office and the Waukegan Police Department, as well as smaller departments like Riverwoods and Hainesville, are all members of one or more of these task forces. The philosophy of the Lincolnshire Police Department is to take advantage of these resource-sharing situations whenever possible.

Below are the various task forces or Intergovernmental Cooperatives of which the Lincolnshire Police Department is a member:

The Central Lake County Radio Network (CLCRN)
This radio network comprises the Lincolnshire, Libertyville, Mundelein and Vernon Hills Police Departments. The network was formed in the 70's through a federal grant which helps fund the establishment of the radio system covering these four communities. This network comprises the "main" police radio frequency for the agencies. While we all have numerous other frequencies available, the advantage to the main frequency is that we can all hear what is going on in the other communities, which makes our job more effective and efficient.

Northeast Illinois Regional Crime Laboratory (NIRCL)
This crime lab currently has 44 member Police Departments and was also formed back in the 70's. Lincolnshire has been a member since the inception of the Crime Lab. The crime lab handles all of the evidence and forensics analysis, for the Lincolnshire Police Department, much like on CSI. The Lincolnshire Police Department submits more than 1,000 pieces of evidence annually for analysis.

Northern Illinois Police Alarm System (NIPAS)
NIPAS was formed in 1987 and currently has about 100 member agencies, which come from all the Chicago collar counties. There are three components of NIPAS: The Emergency Services Team, which is the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) component; the Mobile Field Force Team which is the crowd control component; and the Car Plan, which is the mutual aid component utilized for any event or situation where additional officers are needed in a short period of time.

Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS)
This is basically the same as the NIPAS mutual aid system described above, but covers the entire state of Illinois. ILEAS was formed shortly after the devastating attack of 9/11 and within a short period of time hundreds of Police Officers could be on-site providing whatever assistance is needed.

Major Crash Assistance Team of Lake County (MCAT)
This task force is comprised of 34 member agencies. MCAT is a team of highly trained police officers capable of in-depth accident investigation and accident reconstruction. The team would be called out for any major crash, fatal crash, or a crash involving a police car. Formed four years ago, this team has been called out to investigate many of the major crashes in the area that we read about in the paper. Chances are if it was a significant crash, MCAT was there.

Lake County Major Crime Task Force (LCMCTF)
The Major Crimes Task Force was developed about 18 years ago when there was an increasing need to have a highly trained group of investigators ready at a phone call to aid a stricken agency in a major criminal investigation. The Task Force, now comprised of 34 police agencies, responds to murder investigations, officer-involved shootings, and a myriad of other crimes against persons and other heinous crimes. A component of this Task Force created and made operational in 2009 is the Child Abduction Response Team (CART). In the event of a child abduction, the CART team would immediately respond and assist the home agency with a rapid deployment of Investigators to begin searching and investigating the abduction. This team would augment the AMBER-Alert system currently in place through the State police.

Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Lake County (MEG)
MEG is the countywide drug investigation unit. This unit is comprised of men and women from 29 area Police Departments. Also on the team are members from the FBI, ATF, Lake County States Attorney's office and State Police. This elite unit conducts undercover and covert drug investigations, sting operations, warrant sweeps and training for the Police Departments. Per the agreement, if a Police Department has 25 or more sworn officers, they are required to commit a person full time to the unit. If a department has less than 25 sworn officers, the department is required to make an annual financial contribution to the unit. As we all know, drug transactions and associated crimes have no jurisdictional boundaries, so this unit makes "Lake County" a better place to live and raise our families by dealing with it on a county-wide basis.

The Village of Lincolnshire's involvement in these various Task Forces help to ensure that the Police Department stays on the cutting edge of law enforcement, criminal investigation, and public safety. If you want to learn more about these task forces or have any questions, please contact Chief of Police at 847.913.2341.