Population and popularity of the Lake required a Police presence in Lake Zurich early in this town's history to ensure the safety of Lake Zurich homes and families.

The Lake Zurich Police Department was officially formed in 1898. Henry Schaeffer was the first Marshal ' He earned a salary of $5/month. By 1946, there were two full-time officers for a population of 300,,during the winter and 1300 during the summer months. Today, the department has thirty-five officers, three of whom are women.

When I interviewed the Commander of the Marine Patrol Unit, I brought my son to see the Police Station and introduce him to a real policeman. We were treated as honored guests, especially my son. Not only were we given a tour of the Station House, but we were driven in a squad car to the marine patrol launch and treated to a tour of the lake from the perspective of a law enforcement officer.

The Lieutenant in charge of the marine Patrol today is Lt. Steven Phillips. Lt. Phillips began his career in the United States Marine Corps serving as an interrogator for military intelligence. He has served on the Lake Zurich Police Department (LZPD) for 21 years. When he took the job in 1975, he was the eighth man on the force for a population of 3400 residents. He was paid $8600/year. In 1980, he began supervising the Marine Patrol Unit. Lt. Phillips is also a graduate of the FBI Academy in Quantico.

Why would one of Lake Zurich's finest be trained at the FBI Academy? It seems that Lake Zurich has had an FBI presence since the late 1920s. Not only did many Chicago businessmen have summer homes around the Lake, but Al Capone owned a horse farm at the intersection of route 12 and route 59. Furthermore, Lester Gillis, a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, public enemy #1, operated in this area and was gunned down in a shoot out which left two FBI agents dead on November 27, 1934 in Langendorf Park at route 14 and route 59 in Barrington.

The marine patrol boat is a 24 foot pontoon boat kept at the South Shore Village trailer park. From the boat we could see that the job of the marine patrol is more than just enforcing the Lake rules. The unit keeps track of weeds, (of which there are many due to the shallowness of the water), and also of erosion along the three miles of shoreline. The pontoon boat is misleading in its appearance. The engine is able to comfortably coast along the water surface, or shift into high gear to give chase to any speed boat. The most common infractions on the lake are not enough spotters for water-skiers, and breaking the no-wake-after-sunset rule.

We ended our tour at the 911 facility. There we saw the computer that ran nearly all of the village, alarm systems, and guides in the management of police and fire emergencies. The officer there ran my license plates, and showed how quickly the police can access information about me and my spouse, and any violations I may have committed in the past. (Thankfully, there were none.) Then she gave Patrick some information sheets to color and learn about the 911 system. The 911 facility is built like a fortress. This facility serves Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods, Lake Zurich and parts of the Deer Park and North Barrington fire districts.

The remarkable thing about today's Police Force is the way they treat the children in the community. In 1991, District 95 began to implement the nationwide D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program. This program teaches kids at an early age how to resist peer pressure, how to make decisions about drugs and alcohol, and how to cope with the challenges of life without resorting to breaking the law. These programs, taught by uniformed officers, open the doors to kids to understand the service of law enforcement and how the police support the community.

With all the negative programming that today's children receive in popular culture about the police, it is so refreshing to know that today's police are kid-friendly. The Lake Zurich police are highly accessible to children, at community events, at local schools, and even at the police department. We live in an overwhelming and frightening world for today's children, and it is important for them to know who to trust. In Lake Zurich, there is no question the ones to trust are at the other end of the numbers 911.