Will County Judicial Committee met June 4.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL
Chair Tyler Marcum called the meeting to order at 9:01 AM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status |
| Tyler Marcum | Chair | Present |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | Vice Chair | Present |
| Mimi Cowan | Member | Present |
| Gloria Dollinger | Member | Present |
| Tim Kraulidis | Member | Present |
| Rachel Ventura | Member | Present |
| Tom Weigel | Member | Present |
Present from State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe.
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Mr. Kraulidis led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Judicial Committee - Regular Meeting - May 7, 2019 9:00 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Herbert Brooks Jr., Vice Chair
SECONDER: Tom Weigel, Member
AYES: Marcum, Brooks Jr., Cowan, Dollinger, Kraulidis, Ventura, Weigel
IV. OLD BUSINESS
1. Request for Various Ordinance Amendments
(Undersheriff Conser)
This item was discussed after New Business Item #1.
Lt. Hayes stated last month we talked about an Ordinance for vaping. It is in the State’s Attorney’s hands for review. Since I presented last September, the law has changed; the age is now 21. We are pushing the vaping Ordinance for our schools and to begin enforcement. The Superintendents and Principals are always asking for help. It would first be implemented primarily at the Lincoln-Way schools; with approximately 7,000 students. The SRO would enforce it on a graduated scale with the fine increasing with each offense.
Ms. Dunn stated we are working with the State’s Attorney’s Office to get the language.
Mrs. Tatroe indicated it would be available for the July meeting.
Mrs. Dollinger asked based on the presentation we had; are there legal repercussions in this Ordinance that sends students on a path of being adjudicated. If they are caught would they go into a program?
Lt. Hayes responded Mr. Wistocki talks about a diversion program, but that would have to be adopted by the State’s Attorney’s Office and implemented appropriately if they wanted to enter into something. Any Ordinance ticket we write in Will County goes before the State’s Attorney. We would be issuing an Ordinance ticket, with a fine to keep the tobacco and vaping products from schools.
Mrs. Dollinger asked if they get a ticket; how would they get into a program to change the behavior?
Lt. Hayes replied ours is different; we are the enforcement arm for the Sheriff’s Office to enforce the Ordinance. To do the diversionary program, the State’s Attorney’s Office would have to adopt the diversionary protocol. We are allowed, through state statutes to do certain things. A diversionary program would have to be approve to do a different protocol.
Mrs. Dollinger asked would an Ordinance ticket with a fine go on their record?
Lt. Hayes responded it is basically a simple ticket and there is no record. It would be just a fine. It is a way to make parents and students aware. Once we adopt the Ordinance the Superintendent plans to do a blitz and let everyone know there will be a zero tolerance on vaping at the schools.
V. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
VI. NEW BUSINESS
1. Presentation Re: An Opportunity in Diverting Will County Teens from Expulsion and Arrest Using Restorative Justice Through Diversion
(Det. Rich Wistocki (RET))
This item was discussed as the first item of the meeting.
Det. Rich Wistocki introduced himself and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation and items in the handout on Justice through Diversion.
Ms. Cowan asked for clarification of the $150 fee and who pays.
Det. Wistocki replied the packages offered are in the folder. District 92 does not have SRO’s so with this program, I am the virtual SRO taking care of things at school. I am an auxiliary officer and I try to handle things the best I can without arresting the students. When they have a contract with us, they get Juvenile Justice on-line as part of the contract for no charge.
Ms. Cowan gave background on a situation that happened with a student in Naperville who later jumped from a parking garage and died. I believe a law was recently passed where students cannot talk to the police without their parents present.
Det. Wistocki answered in that case the SRO attempted to contact the parent.
Ms. Cowan asked how would your program have helped this situation in Naperville?
Det. Wistocki responded the student would have had to do the on-line diversion program. Naperville does use the program.
Ms. Cowan asked what if the teen does not admit?
Det. Wistocki replied the person would be arrested, fingerprinted, photographed and go to court.
Ms. Ventura asked what is it you are asking us to do?
Det. Wistocki responded I understand Will County is going to overhaul how they process juveniles. Currently, they are sent back to their parent or Probation or Adjudication. No one is using the diversion process because currently they do it on paper with pen to set up the community service it takes time. Some police departments are inundated with cases and don’t spend a lot of time on diversion. There are cases where they need to do diversions. When you don’t give kids a chance, you get what you get. There is a downward spiral after a kid is arrested, fingerprinted and appears in court it becomes something they cannot get out of. If we spend one hour with the parent to show the kids a positive interaction with the police, our statistics show, 85% of the time they will never commit another crime because they were given a chance. I am asking if anyone is talking about diversion or what to do with juveniles, the Board would suggest this program. I am going to be visiting and meeting with Mr. Pete Wilkes and explain to him and the Lincoln-Way Board how this can help their schools.
Mr. Fricilone asked have you talked with the Regional Superintendent of Schools? Mr. Wistocki replied I met with Dr. Walsh and Mr. Sullivan two weeks ago. They loved the program. I am trying to cover all the bases with people having knowledge of how to save our kids from being arrested by using this program.
Mr. Weigel asked how large is your staff? What happens if you go away, does the program go away?
Mr. Wistocki stated I have two partners; one is a Cisco engineer who handles the backend stuff. Another person handles all the marketing. I do the training. A Hispanic speaking investigator from DuPage County helps me. I have a retired Internet Crimes Against Children person and a few Naperville SROs. It is not just me. I recently hired someone in Washington State to handle the Pacific Northwest.
Mrs. Dollinger stated you mentioned parent, child and agent; is the agent a school representative or a law enforcement person?
Mr. Wistocki answered if you are an agent for Juvenile Justice on-line you can be a judge, a prosecutor, probation officer, juvenile officer, SRO, Dean or Principal. All of those have the same permissions to use Juvenile Justice on-line.
Ms. Cowan asked are immigrants weary of participating because of the recording of information?
Mr. Wistocki responded I have been teaching classes at Intrinsic Schools in Chicago for five years. I do a parent presentation in English and Spanish. The Principal told me when the school first started there was rampant cyberbullying and students taking naked pictures of themselves, since your training, I deal with none of that anymore. When you train the parents, they trust you. Over the last couple months every school I went to a kid came forward and told me I am being sextorted, cyberbullied or someone made a fake account on them. We bring them to the social worker and with the help of the SRO we find out who did it. Empowering the kids is what this program does at the schools.
Mr. Marcum stated this is a good program. We will have a conversation with Dr. Walsh and make sure all the school districts are aware of this program.
2. Awarding Bid for SWAT Tactical Vests for Sheriff's Department
(Kevin Lynn / Nat Freeman)
RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Board
MOVER: Herbert Brooks Jr., Vice Chair
SECONDER: Mimi Cowan, Member
AYES: Marcum, Brooks Jr., Cowan, Dollinger, Kraulidis, Ventura, Weigel
VII. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Roger Holland gave an update on the expungement fair. There are between 140 and 150 signed up. We have had good cooperation with the Sheriff's Office, Circuit Clerk's Office and Prairie State Legal Services. The event is June 22nd.
VIII. PUBLIC COMMENT
Mr. Wistocki stated we have a vaping video on our website. In that type of diversion we would have kids watch the video and take a test. There is a lot of tapping going on with vaping. Tapping is taking pure THC and putting it in the heater and they are getting high at school. In those cases, we do drug testing and we make the parents put monitoring software on their electronics. There is whole educational process for the vaping problem. When they say the State’s Attorney has to adopt it; every State’s Attorney’s Office has adopted station adjustment as part of the Juvenile Court Act. It is up to the police department to use Juvenile Justice on-line or not and do station adjustment. The Aurora and Naperville police departments use it. At the police level they can choose to do whatever station adjustment they want. DuPage County uses Third Millennium which is similar to ours, but we are more robust when it comes to training. There are other programs out there, but the police departments adopt the type of station adjustment and education they want. If it doesn’t pass that, it then goes to the State’s Attorney’s Office.
IX. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT / ANNOUNCEMENTS
X. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XI. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn at 9:50 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Gloria Dollinger, Member
SECONDER: Mimi Cowan, Member
AYES: Marcum, Brooks Jr., Cowan, Dollinger, Kraulidis, Ventura, Weigel
https://willcountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=15&ID=3516&Inline=True
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