Oct. 14--Fox Lake officials on Tuesday night said they are committed to continuing a program for young adults aspiring to careers in law enforcement that had been led by a veteran officer fatally shot last month.
Authorities are still investigating the death of Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, 52, a leader in the Fox Lake Law Enforcement Explorers Post 300 and well known in the community for his work mentoring teens and young adults in the program.
At a village board meeting Tuesday night, Mayor Donny Schmit said that while there may be some changes to the Explorers program, the board and village very much want to see it continue.
"After the devastating loss of Lt. Gliniewicz, that was one of our primary concerns, who would take over the Explorers program," said Sgt. Michael Ostertag, who interim Police Chief Michael Keller tapped to take over as the lead advisor for the Explorer post.
"The post is part of our department, they're part of our family, part of our village," Ostertag said.
Without Gliniewicz, the post, chartered to the Fox Lake Police Department, had fallen short of the required number of leaders, said Mike Hale, scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America's Northeast Illinois Council.
Sgt. Dawn Deservi, a former Fox Lake Explorer, has also volunteered to serve as an advisor, Keller said.
The Boy Scouts spoke with Fox Lake police late last week to talk about the program's future and what they would need to do to continue, Hale said.
Keller said the post remains active but equipment has been secured as part of the village's ongoing review of police assets and equipment.
That review began after former Chief Michael Behan's Aug. 28 retirement and is "standard and considered a best practice" as part of a change in leadership, village officials said in a September statement.
Behan announced his retirement shortly after he was placed on paid administrative leave as part of an internal investigation into how police handled a December 2014 arrest.
"It's important for us to take the time we need to get that done," Keller said.
Village and police officials have also been looking at new policies and procedures, with more details available in a couple weeks, Keller said.
"We're now starting to make (the Explorers) more of a focus as we move forward," he said.
Keller and Deservi said they'll be working with the Boy Scouts to align their post's activities with the Boy Scouts' Explorers curriculum and requirements for competitions.
Keller said he couldn't list specific differences between Fox Lake's existing programming and the Boy Scouts' curriculum as he's new to the department, but said the goal is to make sure the local program is in line with the recommendations.
Ostertag said he'd met with the Explorers last week and they'd be meeting weekly at the police station going forward.
"I'm looking forward to continuing the great post that Lt. Gliniewicz did establish and maintain all these years," he said.
No Explorers or family members spoke at the board meeting but Gina Arbay, whose son is a member of the program, said she wanted to attend to hear what village officials had planned.
While she had not been concerned about the Explorers' future in Fox Lake, she said she was pleased to hear it had full village and police support.
"I'm excited," she said.
In other business at Tuesday's board meeting, village trustees approved payments including $25,020 to a detective agency hired as part of the village's internal investigation that led to the former chief and another officer being placed on leave.
Village spokesman Dave Bayless said Gliniewicz was not involved in that investigation, though he had been participating in the police review of equipment and procedures.
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