The Oak Brook Police Department plans to continue to expand its use of technology as a key tool in fighting crime and protecting the community.
Automated permit readers are slated for use in 2022 in eight Oak Brook neighborhoods, with a 50/50 program implemented by the village, allowing for cost sharing with residents in those neighborhoods. The village has also installed seven more detectors on village roads and purchased a detector/video surveillance trailer along with hand-held GPS trackers to help track fleeing vehicles, Police Chief Brian Strockis said.
“My vision for the Oak Brook Police Department is simple,” he said. “We will keep our schools, our neighborhoods safe and our businesses safe.”
While the use of technology is one of the ways Oak Brook police will use it, it is a necessary, and growing, tool.
A drone system is planned for the near future, and Strockis said the department plans to establish a law enforcement center, called FUSUS. It’s software that can integrate surveillance cameras and put them on a single platform where officers can be accessed in real time.
“The Oak Brook Police Department is committed to using the latest technology, such as increased power, to protect our community,” said Strockis, who took over in June 2022.
“Right now, officers have different systems to get into, and it’s difficult to navigate through all of them. FUSUS will combine all of our technology into one glass with one block. “
Strockis said FUSUS will cost the Village $100,000 in 2023 and $125,000 in 2024 and 2025. “I have researched and submitted a funding opportunity to help offset the cost,” he said. “There will be a fee associated with the community who wants to share their videos on the platform.”
Strockis said the FUSUS platform will be open to all businesses and residents who want to share their food cameras or register their cameras so that investigators can save time in uniform by looking at surveillance video in a certain area.
“It is important to know that the system is 100% ready for our partners,” he said. “Businesses and residents can choose to allow the Police Department to monitor the cameras at all times, only the exterior cameras, or only when there is an emergency on the premises.”
Strockis said he has previously spoken about FUSUS at the Homeowners Association President’s Conference and will do so again in February.
“I also gave a platform at the last meeting of the Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce, and we have a lot of interest in the community,” he said, adding that FUSUS has a community support group that can help raise awareness in the community. .
Strockis said all cameras in the village, including those at the golf course, library and Bath & Tennis Club will be on FUSUS. All the cameras in the schools and the Oak Brook Park District will be on the platform next week, he said Monday.
“We will have the opportunity to install all of our license plate cameras on FUSUS and we are working with those cameras to become cameras as well,” he said.
Strockis feels very positive about the support FUSUS will give the police to help make Oak Brook as safe as possible.
“I’ve spent years in our Detective Division, following up on cases and trying to capture video of suspects or vehicles,” he said. “In many cases, victims/businesses did not know how to manage their surveillance systems or there was a delay in capturing the necessary videos, which delayed the investigation.”
With the FUSUS Virtual Real Time Crime Center, officers responding to an emergency have five real-time cameras on their desktop, Strockis said. “It has the benefit of police protection and increasing the ability to see how you feel before you get there,” he said. “Officers will be able to capture a picture of a suspect or vehicle in real time and quickly disseminate that information.”
Along with all the other features of the system, FUSUS will also have a community connection service where people can join SMS messages to receive information from the police department on ongoing incidents or other crime-related issues that the community needs to know quickly.
“The applications on the FUSUS platform are versatile and flexible to meet the needs of the police and the community as a whole for years to come,” said Strockis.
Village Administrator Greg Summers was not surprised by Strockis’ leadership in bringing FUSUS to Oak Brook.
“When the Village searched for a new police chief in 2022, first and foremost on the Police Nominating Committee’s list was a sustainable Chief who looked to implement new policies and additional technology to protect the public, businesses, and safety of our school,” he said. Summers. “Chief Strockis was selected because he embodied this and demonstrated a clear technical and operational approach to the community’s primary mission of protecting the public.”
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for the Pioneer Press.
