By Karen Haave
A Monee Village Trustee has asked his colleagues to consider a mandate requiring that teens under age 18 be accompanied by an adult at local festivals. Trustee Scott Youdris made the suggestion in his report during the June 12 village board meeting.
“For the board to consider,” he said, “many communities are enacting rules, which require anyone under the age of 18 to be accompanied by an adult when they’re attending local festivals.
“Monee Police Department reports 95 percent of all the Fall Fest problems are juvenile-related, so this is something, this is an option, I think, as a group we need to look at for Fall Fest, moving forward.”
Monee Fall Fest is the village’s largest and most popular outdoor event each year in September.
Monee Police have been able to control disruptions in the past, but many officials believe an under-18 rule would provide additional control. There was no further board discussion of the issue that night.
Also during the public safety report, Monee Police Chief Scott Koerner asked the board to consider an intergovernmental agreement with Crete-Monee District 201-U for a School/Community Liaison Officer. The position is commonly known as School Resource Officer, or SRO.
Koerner said the agreement “is pretty much a template used by all schools and police departments for these types of positions.
“We have our SRO up and ready to go this fall,” he added.
The new SRO would serve at Monee Elementary School and would be “subject to the Village of Monee Police Department’s rules, regulations, and general orders while on and off duty, at all times under the exclusive control of the Chief/Designee of the village.”
The agreement requires the uniformed SRO must be a trained school resource officer.
His authority includes “all the powers of a sworn Monee municipal law enforcement officer” and he is “authorized to act accordingly” when he “believes the actions of a student or other persons constitute a violation of law or ordinance.”
According to the agreement, however, the SRO will not be allowed to detain a student unless “specifically authorized to do so by school administration” or if he “personally observes an individual commit an act the officer believes to be a violation of the law or has a reasonable suspicion to detain a student in accordance with Terry vs. Ohio standards for a stop based upon his/her observations. In addition, the SRO will not be allowed to be present during the questioning of students for issues relating to student discipline, unless specifically authorized by school administration.
The agreement is for three years, automatically renewable at the end of each one.
School District 210-U will pay the officer’s salary calculated on an eight-hour day, when school is in session.
When Mayor Therese Bogs asked if there was “any discussion” of the issue, Trustee John Henson quipped, “Why isn’t it done already?” There was no additional discussion, however.
The board voted unanimously to authorize Mayor Bogs to sign the agreement.
The right thing to do during these times