Western Springs has added two new police officers to its ranks.
Vincent Gismondi and Andrew Weihe were sworn into the department by Western Springs Village Clerk Jeanine Jasica during the July 13 Village Board workshop.
Police Chief Pamela Church said the two officers are completing a 12-week training program, and will be assigned to patrol duties within the department. Gismondi, who has a brother that is a police officer in Warrenville, is a criminal justice graduate of Illinois State University, while Weihe graduated from Western Illinois University, also in criminal justice, Church said.
The new officers will add two more to the 2014 roster of 20 sworn officers of the department, with 13 in the patrol division, the largest division within the department, according to the village website.
The village also swore in two new auxiliary police officers, John Fornalsky and Nick Karambelas.
Church said the auxiliary police officers serve a vital role by responding to non-emergency calls and situation, and handling duties such as traffic and parking control, and planning and operating at community events.
“Auxiliary officers allow our sworn patrol offices more time to handle emergency calls and complaints and to remain on the streets to serve and protect the community,” Church said.
Village President Bill Rodeghier praised the new members of the department, and said they will make a fine addition to the village.
“We are very proud of our police department, and our hope is that these new additions will make it even better,” he said.
According to the 2014 Law Enforcement Annual Report, put together each year by the department, the Western Springs Police Department responded to 12,222 calls for service in 2014, a slight increase of 1.6 percent when compared to 2013. They included two bank robberies, and reported thefts increased by 35 percent from 2013. Patrol officers initiated 3,359 traffic-related contacts for various moving violations resulting in a total of 5,970 warnings and/or citations. Patrol officers investigated 289 reported motor vehicle traffic crashes during 2014.
David Heitz is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
