Politics & Government

Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills Get $70,000 Grant for Police Merger

The awarded dollars would go toward legislative and contractual needs.

Hinsdale Village President Tom Cauley announced Tuesday that the villages of and have received a $70,000 grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) to assist the municipalities with the preliminary steps of merging their police departments.

Cauley said at the Village of Hinsdale Board of Trustees meeting that the grant money will go towards completing “Phase One” of the merge, which is the passage of state legislation to allow the unprecedented full consolidation to move forward.

The resolution of pension issues and the establishment of an intergovernmental agreement between Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills are among the preliminary needs, Cauley said.

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“[The grant] basically means that, for the foreseeable future, we will not be out of pocket in connection with the need of legislation and contractual drafting,” he said.

If Phase One goes as planned—Cauley said he’s confident it will—Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills would likely seek another ICJIA grant for implementing the merge. Because the merge would be the first of its kind in Illinois, the ICJIA has been very supportive, Cauley said.

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Citing an already close working relationship and demographic similarities, Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills . The two villages would benefit fiscally from combining service by saving on operational costs and reducing manpower in the future. 

Officials from both villages have said no layoffs would be the result of the merge. Manpower reduction would result from attrition only.


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