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Village of Alsip was incorporated in 1927 and appointed it's first
Chief of Police in 1930, Chief Turner. Chief Turner was with
the Village for approximately 2 years, at which time Chief Leonard
Teason became the Chief of Police. Chief Teason was with the
Village until 1939, when he was killed in an automobile accident.
Chief Sill La Pointe became Chief of Police at that time and
remained with the Village until 1943, when he joined the Army.
He was gone for 18 months. During the 18 months, three
policemen were appointed on a part-time basis; Ray Thoms, Ried
Koehne and John Bultema. In 1951, Stanley Thoms was appointed
Chief of Police and remained with the Village for 22 years. In
1946/1947, Earl Barnett and Jo Jeans were also appointed on a
part-time basis. Village Fire Chief Bultema, who was a
part-time police officer from 1943 until 1962 recalls the time when
police calls were answered from their homes when the only means of
communication was a light from the top of their homes. Police
phones were installed in the homes of Stanley Thoms and John Bultema,
who answered the calls and using their own cars would meet at a
designated corner to answer the call. In the late 1930's they
had a one-way radio installed. Two-way radios were brought
into use in the late 1940's. Midlothian dispatched calls for
Alsip in the early 1950's and in early March of 1967 Alsip installed
their own radios. At that time the full-time department was
still supplemented by a part-time department. The first
full-time Police Officer was installed in the late 1950's. The
officer's name was Donald Barnes.
The first Village Hall /
Police Department on the existing premises was a tavern which was
taken over in 1933/1934 and converted to the Village Hall.
This facility was used until 1961. The old tavern was in use
when there was one full-time policeman. At that time there was
one room and two cells to accommodate one full-time policeman.
In the early 1970's the Alsip Police Department was comprised of
approximately 20 full-time officers. In 1976 the present public
safety building was completed on the grounds which once housed the
original village hall, police department, and fire house. In October
of 1999, ground was broken to begin the construction of a large,
modern addition to the existing public safety building. This
multi-million dollar addition, which was dedicated one year later,
in October of 2000, includes an additional 13,000 square feet,
including office and meeting space and was paid for predominately
from drug seizure funds. The new building also houses a modern,
state-of-the-art, six position pistol range, a more spacious
evidence room and vault for the secure storage of evidence and
property, a training room for the Departments
F.A.T.S. training equipment, evidence processing room, and new
booking facility. The new Public Safety Building houses the Village
Hall and Police Department.
Since that time, the police
department has grown to its present force of 42 full-time sworn
officers and 14 full-time civilian personnel. The department is
comprised of 1 Chief of Police, 1 Deputy Chief, 3 Lieutenants, 6 sergeants,
6 Investigators, and 25 patrol officers.
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