By Karen Haave

Crete residents who have not purchased their vehicle stickers yet are urged to do so. Police Chief Scott Pieritz, in his report to the village board last week, said sticker enforcement is about to begin.

“We are beginning enforcement of village stickers,” he said. “If you haven’t purchased one as of now, please do so immediately. Tickets start at $100 and can increase to a $750 fine. In addition to the fine, you will be required to purchase a sticker for $100. Failure to purchase a sticker after receiving a ticket may result in you getting additional tickets. 
“The police department prefers compliance over enforcement on this matter. For more information, please go to the Village of Crete website, drop-down menu for “Municipal Code,” and type in ‘village stickers.’ Ordinance is under ‘24-23 License Required’.”
Also during his report, Pieritz said he has received notice the police department has been awarded/approved for $20,000 of grant money for the next STEP grant (October 2024 to September 2025).  
“I have applied for this grant every year since I was a sergeant. The amount awarded goes up and down; this year’s is slightly higher than last year’s. The STEP grant is broken down into 12 different traffic ‘campaigns’ during the year, which focus on seatbelt, DUI, cellphone, and other unsafe driving.  
“Officers can sign up to work four-hour details that focus on these issues and pay officers at their overtime rate of pay. This grant reimburses the Village of Crete for 100 percent of these officers’ salaries. The grant is funded by federal traffic safety funds and administered by IDOT.”
A current STEP campaign is the “Labor Day Campaign,” from August 16 to September 3. During the “Independence Day Campaign” (June 21 to July 6) the department wrote 57 traffic citations. The July “Additional Enforcement Campaign” (July 9 to 31) saw 48 traffic citations.
At the same time, Pieritz reported that:
  • The police blotter is back. “I will try and release this at the beginning of every month for the previous month.  It is time consuming to review reports and create the police blotter, but I believe it is important to share with the community. Sgt. Young is in charge of this job, and I appreciate the work he does to prepare it,”
  • Crete PD “had a great time and turnout at National Night Out. We cooked more than 240 hotdogs, with Sgt. Konvalinka on the grill and Officer Rodd and myself in the line. DC Groszek, Officers Jones and Rodriguez also came out to help and hand out some swag. Lilly was out greeting the public and gladly eating spilled popcorn. Thanks to the Park District, Old Plank Trail Bank, Sweet Bites, Crete EMA, Starbucks, and everyone else who supported and joined us. Great community event!”
  • “On August 8, a missing/endangered elderly man was reported in the unincorporated Beecher area.  Thankfully, he was found after an extensive search and rescue effort by multiple agencies. I wanted to say great job by Ryan Allison (Crete EMA), who was called to run the command post for this incident. He and his team did a great job!”

“We had an officer involved vehicle accident on July 22. An officer was responding to an emergency medical call and was struck by another vehicle. The squad was flipped over from the impact, and the officer sustained some injuries, but is doing well overall. The officer is currently on light duty status, plus conducting some physical therapy, and is expected to make a full recovery.”