What kind of community is Huntley on a Saturday night? What do suburban cops actually do? What kind of shifts do they work? What do they think of cop shows on TV? Do they mind if people call them cops?
The Sun Day got some answers to these questions on March 17 when this writer spent four hours riding along with a Huntley officer. The village’s police department offers four-hour ride-alongs to the public as part of its community relations efforts.
Sun Day Reporter Dwight Esau participated in a police ride-along on St. Patrick’s Day with Huntley Police Officer Brock Larkin. (Photo by Dwight Esau/Sun Day)
My chauffeur and guide was Brock Larkin, who has been a patrol officer in the village for five years. He is a native of the community and a graduate of Huntley High School. He readily admitted that one of the reasons he chose Huntley as a workplace was that it was a “quiet, safer” town.
March 17, of course, was St. Patrick’s Day. It was a cool, dry evening. Here is how the ride went, with events described in the order in which they occurred:
I arrived at the Huntley police station at about 7:30 p.m. Brock had started his 12-hour (6 p.m.-6 a.m.) shift earlier, and had returned to the station to type up an incident report on a vandalism case at a home in the Talamore subdivision on Huntley’s north side. These reports must be detailed, he said, and he consulted his notes and typed for almost 30 minutes in a room full of computers, law enforcement literature, and printers.
“I have zone 5 tonight,” he said. “That’s everything in the village north of Reed Road. I patrol it any way I want, and I can stop anywhere I want. There are five zones in the village, and there is a cruiser in every one all the time.”
We spent 45 minutes or so cruising around the Talamore and Southwind subdivisions, and occasionally going south to Algonquin Road. He invited me to ask any questions I wished. He mentioned that his wife is a stay-at-home mom with four kids aged 7 to 1.
“She works harder than I do, with four youngsters,” he said laughing.
He told of two major incidents in which he participated recently.
“I was first on the scene when the a driver crashed his car into a house in Sun City’s Neighborhood 14 (Feb. 4, 2017), and I was with our SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team when there was a disturbance and criminal activity at Delnor Hospital in Geneva in Kane County, also in 2017.”
In response to another question, he said there are no residency requirements for cops in Huntley, and he lives in Pingree Grove.
“I’ve answered a number of domestic disturbance calls, and those are challenging times when you have to be calming and patient,” he said.
At about 9 p.m., Brock received a radio call to return to the vandalized home in Talamore and speak to the victim, a woman. He spent about 15 minutes in the home, and came out with a small piece of evidence that he said the woman found in her home
“I have to take it back to the station and process it later,” he said.
Next, he drove to the Pinecrest Golf Course Club parking lot on Algonquin Road, parked, and turned on his radar. We sat and talked for nearly 45 minutes while he and the radar monitored passing vehicles on Algonquin.
“We average about two stops a day, or about 30 in a month,” he said. The conversation turned to school security.
Asked about the wisdom of arming teachers, he said, “That’s a horrible idea. It would cause as many problems as it might solve. I believe the best approach in schools today is metal detectors.”
On still another subject, he said he and his fellow officers are required to renew their weapons qualification annually, and he also said he carries a “long gun” in a rear storage area, in addition to the pistol holstered at his waist. Asked if he has fired his weapon while on duty any time in his five years, he simply said, “no.”
After some more driving around the north side, it was past 10:30 p.m.
Then, came his only stop of the night. On Route 47 near the Union Special building, he discovered that the driver of an SUV displayed an expired license plate. He took the motorist’s driver’s license, and made out a brief report. “We don’t fine these people on the first occasion, we just remind them of the law and ask them to get the sticker as soon as possible, and send us evidence of it. This driver had forgotten all about it.”
Back on the road, Brock received a call that the teenage son of the home vandalism victim in Talamore had left the home and had been located at Route 47 and Algonquin Road. After Brock and another police officer spoke to the youth for about 20 minutes, he was placed in the squad car, and Brock drove him home.
“I was just told to make sure he was back home safely,” Brock said.
Finally, a few words about Brock himself. He has compiled an impressive personal and professional resume in his 28 years. He was raised in a military family. Right after high school, he enlisted in the Air Force and served as a military policeman at bases in North Dakota and Texas. He now is a member of the active reserve. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice at American Military University, an online school where he often took six courses at once.
He completed the required two-month stint in the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy and was hired in 2013 after he applied at both Hoffman Estates and Huntley departments.
A final word on the ride. Totals for the evening: one traffic stop, one follow-up to a home vandalism incident, one teen returned home safely.
And yes, Huntley, on this evening, was very peaceful and quiet.
