The rise
and fall of a citizen in Hanover Park, Illinois.
When
a nail stands out on your deck it’s obvious it’s out of place. Our instinct is
hammer it back down so it stays in line with the rest of the nails. Without it,
the deck does not hold together. Unpleasant warping and creaking appears. Over
time the nail keeps creeping up. What is so special about this nail? It is
identical to all the other nails and yet it refuses to hold. The nail must be
defective. The deck owner takes no more of this anarchy and removes the nail to
be replaced by a screw. Was the nail truly defective? I don’t think so. Maybe
the nail was meant to serve another purpose other than holding a deck together.
There are unseen forces causing it to rise. Don’t throw the nail away…
I
came to Hanover Park in the fall of 1993. I
was a 20 years old and full of ambition. I had a factory job getting 10 hours
or more a week in over time. My first home in Hanover Park
was at 6724 Pinetree. I rented a cozy two bedroom cheap apartment. I had a
peppy 5 speed manual Nissan Pulsar. Great car. My first run in with the Hanover
Park Police Department is the most common for most citizens. A simple parking
ticket was left under my wiper for leaving my car on the street overnight.
Unfortunately for me this is how I have come to learn. I learn by mistakes. As
many mistakes as I have made, I should be a genius by now.
Let’s
analyze this simple act. Who’s fault is it for getting the ticket? Is it mine?
Am I trying to uproot order and destroy the neighborhood by parking my car in
front of the complex? No I am not. At the time, I just didn’t care. I didn’t
know I had to. I was a fairly new driver then. Exactly where does it say in the
Illinois rules of the road book to observe parking signs? I was not trained to look for
such devices. What better way to learn
than a $15 citation. Unfortunately this naivety will come back to haunt me.
License Problem
Life
at the apartment and job was great. I managed to rack up a few speeding tickets
over the winter in that peppy little Pulsar. Being immortal and making more
money then I was spending, I did what a lot of people do. I just paid the
ticket through the mail. Who needs to go to court? Yeah, I knew my insurance
would go up, but I could afford that. At that age it’s hard to see past myself
or tomorrow. Did you know that if you get three moving violations in a year you
get a three month license suspension? I found out the hard way. Thus begins my
downward spiral and many run ins with Hanover Park Police Department.
Stupid
me thinks ok, maybe it’s time to not be as aggressive while driving for three
months. Get caught driving on a suspended license in Illinois and the state doubles your
time and adds your last span. Three months is now six months plus the original
three. Get caught again three, six and add another twelve. Over three years and
several thousand dollars later, I finally get out of the trap. While your
license is suspended, car insurance is so expensive it is out of my reach.
There’s another trap to fall into. During this phase of life I lived horribly.
I was underfed and sickly. I was in and out of work. Losing jobs to arrests for
driving while suspended, no car insurance and court dates. I lost the apartment
and now had to work local minimum wage jobs.
Bottom of the barrel
Exactly
how does one live on minimum wage? Well, I wouldn’t call it a living. I ended
up renting rooms with scrupulous people. I couldn’t spend any more than fifty
dollars a week for living expenses. My earnings went to court costs, lawyers
and cigarettes. I had to live with pot smokers, people with DUI’s, people
convicted of assault, people convicted of fraud and people getting divorced.
Ever hear the adage,” You are who you associate with.”? For the most part it is
true. The Hanover Park Police Department was involved with many people around
me. I knew the first names of more than half the officers employed in Hanover Park. It was so bad, that Hanover Park Police
Department didn’t ask for my driver’s license anymore. They just flipped back
to in their little paper notebook and looked it up.
At one time my reputation was so bad; a police officer
asked me if I knew anything about a local bank robbery. I am just a guy who has
to drive to work and can’t afford to live any better than sharing space with
criminals. I AM NOT A SOCIAL DEVIANT. I am not a criminal and have no interest
what other criminals are doing. I made a mistake and I am paying ten fold my
due. I want to get away from these criminalistic people I live with just as
much as the officer wants to arrest them. Police officers spend 90% of their
time dealing with the worst 1% of humanity. Officers become cynical, agitated
and machine like in their function. They assume the whole town is going to Hell
in a handbag. It’s their job to see what we civilians do not. They have to
disconnect to keep their sanity and “Just do their job” or lose their pension.
As a child I admired them. As an adult I pity them. Needless to say, I couldn’t
offer any help to the officer’s bank robbery question.
New Beginnings
1999 was the year I was finally back on track with my life.
I had my driver’s license. I was no longer living with the Jerry Springer
social club. I was back in college. I met my future wife. Love is a funny
thing. It was one thing if I screwed up on my own and it only affected me. Now
if I screw up, it affects her as well. Having someone else believe in me more
than I did cleared up any confusion in my head about right and wrong. I no
longer needed to learn the hard way. My instincts to morality had been honed by
her.
Problem Neighbors
After marrying my wife in May of 2000, I moved in with her
and her parents at
Once the incident was over, I then got a full history of
the feud between the houses from my wife. There’s a story of how they neighbors
stole electricity from them when their power was shut off. There’s another
story of them pouring water on our steps in the winter. There’s a story of
someone falling through the attic of her home in a robbery attempt. (The attic
is connected and shared) I saved the best for last. One of Sharon Polk's nephews got one of his associates
mad enough to invoke a shooting! A person was shot in Sharon’s driveway over baseball cards! To
read the news article click HERE. My wife, her brother and sister
remember running to the back of the house to hide in safety. My neighbors have
the ability to agitate someone so bad that they even threw a Molotov cocktail
(fire bomb) at their home. My wife’s family had been renting their place for 11
years before I even met her.
Move!
After
the short stint of living with her parents we moved out and moved in to our first
place in 2001. We rented a two bedroom town home at 1311 Kingsbury Hanover
Park, IL. Married life was great then and is great now. I was a normal citizen.
I went to work every day maintaining an insurance company’s computer system.
Came home to a loving wife and a warm meal. We spent our evenings on the couch
watching Seventh Heaven, Gilmore Girls, and Smallville. We were happily falling
in to our married routines.
Life interrupted model citizen
One evening with my wife was disrupted by kids hanging out
by the side of our town home. The kids were sitting on one of those green
humming power transformers that the electric company installed next to my town
home. The act of sitting didn’t bother me at all; it was the kids sitting on
the side of my home cursing and kicking the aluminum siding on my home that
disturbed me. I asked them to keep it down politely that my wife and I are
watching TV and we do not want to hear the thud from kicking the home. In
typical teenage mob mentality they pipe back, “It’s a free country, you can not
stop us.” They won that evening. They returned another day with the same
results. In my head the tune of reveille is playing. I am now at war with the
unprosecutable. My solution was to water my bushes and the green sitting box
every evening to make the ideal squat spot less comfortable. Few will walk
through mud for a rest or enjoy a damp tush. After a while, it worked! The kids
stopped coming.
Round two. Weeks pass on with little disruption in my
evening dates with wife. One evening, I catch a young lad tearing up my garden
for the wood separating the grass from my flower box. He was taking the wood
and trying to climb on to my roof so he could apparently access the second
floor to see his grounded girlfriend. That’s it! The gauntlet has been thrown.
I joined the neighborhood watch. I purchased walkie talkies for neighbors. Went
door to door to find my allies and identify the kids that are interrupting my
life. I purchased a closed circuit camera to watch my car in the driveway. I
encouraged neighbors to turn on their porch lights. I put brighter bulbs in my
fixtures. I helped the association trim trees and replace bulbs in their
fixtures. I frequently walked the complex with other neighbors. I went to Home
Owners Association meetings. I went to village meetings. My wife and I
participated in the Citizen’s Police Academy. I had dinner
with the mayor. I shoveled my elderly neighbor’s sidewalks. I became an active
member in my society. I improved my neighborhood and helped others. I received
an award. I did all this as a renter!
During this time I met the Police Chief and many more
village people. I acquired email addresses. I offered suggestions to improve
the Hanover Park Village’s website. I participated in
getting street lamps installed by the village of Hanover Park along Kingsbury Drive. I did ride-alongs with
police officers to see their view and how to properly interact with them in the
future should I need services. I was a fire under many people backsides driving
them to do wonderful things.
Move back to the in laws
Eventually, my landlord got greedy from all the home
improvements I made and my wife was pregnant with our first child. We had to
move. We moved back in with her parents to 6824 Valley View in Hanover Park. I occasionally visited
Hanover Square. (Kingsbury) to see how long my torch would be carried. My involvement with the
Hanover Square Condominiums
and the Hanover Park Police department faded. A lot of time passes
by before we dance again. Police officers are replaced from turn over. A new
fire chief, our beloved mayor dies, new trustees and so on. My will to better
my community never died. My new priority was my child.
Hatfield versus McCoy
In the winter of 2004 my attached neighbors felt that we
were too noisy for them. They called the Village of Hanover Park Police Department
to complain. The officer informed us of their distress and we became
aware of our sound limits. Fine, we will be quieter neighbors. After that
incident there were many sound disturbances from them. We let several of them
slide in an effort to be the better neighbor. We even allowed Sharon Polk to play their ghetto booty music until
2AM for her daughter’s graduation party. The following day I find beer bottles
in my back yard. No more Mr. nice guy. We start complaining about them. Every
couple of weeks we complained about their noise and they complained about ours.
Over the course of 2004 I had received a couple of parking
tickets for the car being on the street over night and the occasional blocked
sidewalk. This did not antagonize me in the least. 6824 Valley View road is a
single family duplex dwelling. I have to share the home with my wife’s father
who works as well. With a 22 foot long driveway there is barely room for two
cars. My father in law had an old Lincoln Town Car. This car is 13 feet long!
My car is just over 10 feet long. Quite often my tail or my or my father in
law’s tail would hang over the sidewalk. Thus, a parking ticket would be
issued. No spilled milk here. The police officer is doing what they are supposed
to do. I respect them and appreciate what they do. They protect us even from
ourselves.
McCoy versus Hatfield
Now back to my problem neighbors. In the fall of 2004 our
neighbors acquire a new family dog. It looks like a terrier poodle mix. It is
very high strung and barks a lot. They frequently would leave the dog in their
back yard unattended and barking for hours. If it wasn’t in the backyard the
dog was in their garage barking. We called the village of Hanover Park Police Department on
them several times. After five complaints from us, a community service officer
finally issues them a citation for leaving their dog unattended in the garage.
Our garages are not heated and the day they got their ticket the temperature
got down to 40 degrees. Only when the nuisance animal was close to being abused
from neglect did they get a citation. Of course Sharon Anderson comes out all
mad and yelling at my wife and me for the ticket. She claims she is not responsible
for her kid’s dog in her house. She states that she is going to get back at me
and I better watch my back.
Improper traffic stop
My wife witnessed a Hanover Park police officer that had stopped a driver on Barrington Road for an unknown offense
during rush hour. Barrington road is a four lane
primary artery that slices through the Village of Hanover Park, Illinois.
It is a very busy road that is undersized and congests easily. There are parts
of Barrington road that widen to six lanes in adjacent towns. Not only did this Hanover Park police officer bring traffic to a crawl, she
performed an improper stop that put herself and the offender at great risk from
rush hour traffic. The police officer is supposed to stagger her car in such a
way that the car shields the officer from an unobservant driver. Is it worth
jeopardizing people’s lives and property for expired plates? See the image
below for a proper stop.
My wife went to the Hanover Park
police station to speak with the watch commander or a sergeant about the improper
stop. They said they would look in to it and remind the officers to follow
proper stop procedures.
Deck repair permit
In the spring of 2005 I partner with my wife’s father to
purchase the home we are renting from the landlord. The landlord was tired of
the village notices for repair and tax increases. He was an elderly fellow in Indiana and it was time
to cash in his chips so he can enjoy his earned retirement. I had to scurry
like never before to get the house to pass FHA inspection and get the loan. The
back yard needed a new deck. It was 29 years old, infected with carpenter ants
and unsafe. I went to the village to get a permit to do so. They said no
because of a power line running across my yard. I am aware of the power line
and I am repairing an existing structure. The village wasn’t helpful in the
least. I ended pouring a slab and throwing up a quick balcony on the back door.
It worked and passed inspection. If the Village of Hanover Park
made me tear down the balcony for lack of permit, at least I didn’t pay for a
new deck.
Driveway repair and the impatient
village
That same year was the year of improvements. I am a home
owner and now I can invest in my own future via my home. So I am off to the Village of Hanover Park again for another permit to
widen and replace the driveway. I was so excited. I’m going to create a new
parking space. No more parking tickets!!! So I thought. I get the permit in the
early spring of 2006. The driveway apron is excavated; pour lines are marked
and permit is posted in the window. There are water shutoff valves in my main
drive that need to be raised to the new grade. Repairing the driveway was going
to come in two parts. The apron was poured first. After that I went to Hanover
Park Public Works department to request them to raise the height of the valve
covers in my driveway. They said they would put it on the schedule. Two weeks
later someone from the village comes out and spray paints the drive to show
where the water lines run. They didn’t raise the valves as requested.
As spring rolls around so does Hanover
Park code enforcement team. I get warnings for paint chips on
home, erosion on driveway and not having an adequate gate lock for the pool in
my back yard. I fixed the paint, beefed up the gate lock and informed the code
enforcement officer’s supervisor of my driveway repair permit in the window and
that I am in process of repairing the associated erosion. I now understand why
the landlord wanted to get rid of our new home. All tickets were dismissed.
After
the widening of the driveway I get three more tickets within months for parking
over the sidewalk. All the tickets are disputed and dismissed.
2006-11-29 Ticket 4098326 2007-01-07 Ticket
4099841 2007-01-27
Ticket 4099908
Code Enforcement
I gave up on parking traditionally in the newly widened
driveway. I now park parallel to the sidewalk. Parking the car in this manor
makes it difficult for my father in law to go around my car when he needs to
leave. When I park the car, I have to make sure the front tires are on the very
edge of the asphalt border. This is not an easy task for anyone parking the
family car. We frequently fall off of the edge and smash the grass along the
driveway.
Spring of 2007 brings the Hanover Park Police Department’s
Code Enforcement team to our door once again. Every year they complain about
the same paint chipping. Every year we scrape and paint again. They complain
about the water in the pool. It’s just not warm enough yet to clean or fire up
the pump filter. They complain about the cracks in the unfinished driveway.
(How about raising the water valves like I had asked?) They complain about the
dead grass in the apron. I have had it. I am done with Hanover
Park. I am no longer interested in being a helpful citizen. If I
park my car one way I get tickets for being over the sidewalk. If I turn my car
ninety degrees to avoid being over the sidewalk, I get a ticket for dead grass.
The expense of widening my driveway is a total waste. I am going to get tickets
no matter what. The more I thought about it, the more I boil. As a homeowner I
do want my property to appreciate and be in good order with my neighbors. I
understand what the “Curb Appeal” program is for. However, if you are going to
enforce a program, do it with an even hand. That means make the local
businesses across the street paint their marquees, trim their bushes, fix their
drives and keep fixtures in working order as well. The Code Enforcement officer
is over zealous with their efforts. It’s a lot easier to muscle an independent
owner than a corporation. Click HERE to see images of businesses in my backyard that
should be repairing their property.
Crash!
April 19 2007 I have an embarrassing accident. It was 8pm
on a Friday. My family and I return from a dinner date. I hop on my motorcycle
to trot to the video store for a movie to top the evening. The unimaginable
occurs. I am approaching the stop sign at the end of my street. Two seconds in
to the braking procedure, my handle bars spin left out of my hands. The bike
drops on its left side. My left knee is there to break the fall. 550 pounds
land on my knee. Crack! Broken knee. The bike stops sliding two feet past the
white stop line. I have had a motorcycle license for over 15 years. I rode
minis as a teenager. I have ridden Honda Aspencades. When I was a teenager, I
could ride wheelies. I am not a novice rider. When I fell, the wind was knocked
out of me. After I caught my breath, I started looking around to figure out
what the hell happened. There must have been something on the road I didn’t
see. Did I do something stupid like try to stop on a soda can? Was there oil or
antifreeze on the street? Did I run over a rope? Did I hit a rock or gravel
from the water main repair from (
Eventually a Hanover Park Police Department officer arrives
to the accident scene with the Hanover Park Fire Department ambulance. The
officer approaches and asks me to rise if I am able. It takes some work but I
am standing on one leg thanks to my wife’s help. The officer asks what
happened. Did I hit someone? Who hit me? I reply, I don’t know what I hit and
no one hit me. The only thing damaged is my bike and me. The officer then asked
for my license and insurance. Neither of which I had on me at the time. I gave
him my license number from memory. He asked if I could get proof of insurance.
I replied, not at the moment. He then proceeds to administer a field sobriety
test. I am feeling a little woozy from the trauma to my leg. I am having
difficulty standing up on my own. I am pretty sure I was on my way to failing
the sobriety test when several people from the gathered crowd piped in. “Dave
doesn’t drink! He doesn’t like drinking or people that do.” My wife chimes in,
my father in law, my mother in law and one of my neighbors say the same
thing. The police officer relents and allows the paramedics to load me in to the
ambulance.
I am now resting and being treated in the emergency room.
The intake technician asks the usual questions. Known diseases, allergens and
nature of the injury. One of the questions was if I planned on suing. I thought
for a moment, what for? That got my mind wandering. My wife comes to see me in
the emergency room after putting the kids to bed and acquiring a sitter. During
her visit I asked her if she saw anything that I could have hit in the road.
She didn’t think so. It was getting close to 2 am. I told my wife to go home
and take pictures of where I fell and then sleep. I told her to look for
liquids on the pavement or rocks in the road or rope in the tires of my
motorcycle. I will call her when the emergency room says I can go. While waiting,
I wondered if the officer processed the accident scene. I doubt it.
All aboard, ticket please
The following day, my wife takes me home. The doctor
prescribes Vicadin for the pain and I pass out for some much needed sleep.
While I slept for most of the afternoon, the police officer returns to issue me
the much needed no proof of insurance citation in my slumber. In thirty days I
now have to appear before a judge to show the judge my insurance card. For
three weeks I couldn’t even leave my bed! It was not easy making the court
date. I had to rent a wheel chair and endure painful travel in my condition. I
did go before the judge and at least he was kind enough to not make me stand.
The judge sent the district attorney over to see my insurance card. It would
appear I’m covered. Case dismissed! Did the officer really need to write me a
ticket originally? No he did not. It is at his discretion to issue tickets. The
only damage to property was mine. Did the officer think as to the difficulty it
would create for me to get to court? Not likely. Is he under pressure to write
tickets? Yes he is.
There is no quota system per se. That does not mean that
the quantity and severity of crime isn’t tallied. It is very much counted. Come
promotion time, the number of arrests in various categories determine the
officer’s experience. Every year the state issues crime statistic reports.
Neighboring towns make so many arrests to a given crime. If our town’s numbers
are too low in comparison then state treasury has reason to reduce budget for
our town. At the same time low crime rate attracts residents. The money gained
for village income for more residents is less than what the state offers for
higher crime rates. Crime is very much a business without a loss sheet. The
mayor and the police chief have very difficult decisions to make. The police
officer isn’t told directly to go out and arrest more drunk drivers. The
officer is told that last month’s arrest rate for that crime was low. The
correct course of action is inferred. That way there is no civil rights
infraction held accountable by the village. Who does that officer serve? The
village or his ethics? Again I say, I pity the officer for they job they
perform at the risks they take.
Sewer line vs. Water Works department
During my time of being bed ridden, another house problem
resurfaces. Over the years, we have had problems with our sewer line getting
clogged from roots. We have to occasionally rent a motorized snake and send it
30 some feet in to the nasty. We have to disconnect our toilet in the basement
to do it. We have called Hanover Park water
and sewage many times. We have begged them to cut down the tree that is
continuously clogging our neighbors and my sewer line. The village response is,
they won’t cut down the tree until we dig up our yard to replace the pipe. Thus
the paradox. If the tree is gone, then there are no roots to clog my drain.
That is a far cheaper solution than the homeowner tearing up the yard. This
same tree is also blocking the needed light from a pole. Hanover
Park can’t maintain its city of trees image if we go chopping down
George’s cherry tree can it? It’s just another story of how the Village of Hanover Park has its
own internal think tank agenda and not adhering to the will of the villagers. I
could tell you a story of a wanted stop sign declined by the village. 200+
people from the area petitioned for it.
Eminent Domain
I’ve
got another story about the village’s eminent domain policy and knocking down
private fences. Village trumps a document called the Constitution. Several
years ago, Hanover Park Village invoked a fence
program. Hanover Park wants to hide everyone’s
backyard from through traffic of the larger arteries. They are erecting double
slotted wooden fences. The fence does not look bad and improves the overall
image of the town. Who wants to see teenagers swimming in pools or children on
their swing sets on the ride home from work? In my case, the Village put up a
wooden fence that is much nicer than my chain link. I didn’t care. Here’s the
problem, what if I spent five grand on a designer wrought iron fence or the
latest plastic composite fences? Does the village reimburse me for the fence I
have to throw away now? Nope! There are people showing up to the village
meeting about the fence that is going to bring down their property value. The
Village politely tells them they will look in to it. Which is a polite way of
saying, “The fence is still going up; we know that you will give in.” In true
eminent domain the government is mandated to give fair market value for seized
property, except in Hanover Park.
Independence Day
July 4th 2007. I am a patriotic American. In my
family tree, I have lost nine relatives to wars that have fought for my right
to create this web page and express my views. Now that I have children, it is
my tradition to celebrate the Fourth with a private collection of fire works.
Sparklers, snap pops, party poppers and occasionally some bottle rockets or
lady fingers. This celebration often disturbs Sharon Anderson Polk. Jehovah Witnesses are not allowed to
celebrate in their faith. Sharon Polk Anderson can throw mad drinking parties for her kid’s graduation, but doesn’t light the
backyard grill for Memorial Day or the Fourth. She may even throw props to Dr.
King. I hope she does even in irony.
The weeks surrounding the Fourth is filled with the sounds
of the patriotic holiday. Which I too participate. The local baseball stadium
can hold there own quite well with their biweekly displays of pyrotechnics and
thunder cannons. Because of this feud between Sharon Anderson ( Sharon Polk ), Antonio Polk and
my wife’s family; Hanover Park Police Department is called for a fireworks
complaint. I am caught red handed with sparklers in one hand and whistler’s in
the other. The officer smiles and politely asks to take the celebration inside.
The sun has set and we comply. We told the officer we know who called and
apologized for the disruption of her duties. My son asked why we have to go in.
I explain to him that some people don’t like fireworks. He asks why. I don’t
know.
Civil Rights Violation - Police Abuse
The following day’s afternoon brings yet another
opportunity to celebrate. For five minutes my son and I are tossing snap pops
and setting off party poppers in my garage. We finish and we return to playtime
in his room. There’s a knock at my door from a Hanover Park Police Officer that
is answered by my wife’s sister. The officer wants to speak with me. The
officer enters my home and reads me the riot act for lighting fireworks. I said
nothing to her. She was threatening jail. I was in awe of the rudeness. She was
holding a white circular disk for the streamers from a party popper in her hand
saying she has all the proof right here to lock me up. When she was done with
her intimidation tactics she told me speak and if I had anything to add. I told
her no and she can leave where she came in. After the officer left, I asked my
sister in law if she let the officer in. She said she did not and that the
officer stepped in after she opened the door. Now I was livid. My civil rights
have just been violated over a party popper. I then spent hours searching the www.findlaw.com website and Hanover Park
Village Municipal Code site looking up pyrotechnics, explosives and permits
relating to fireworks. This is what I found, $500 fine by the state for not
having a license by a non-commercial entity. No where is there a violation for
fireworks that warrants incarceration unless the ignition is cause for arson or
intent to injure. Hanover Park Village
Municipal Code had nothing to show. This just reinforces what I already knew.
Police will lie. Not all do.
Traffic stop, officer too busy to write
ticket
One evening my wife ventures out to go pick up movies from
the video store seeing how my track record wasn’t so good for this task. She is
traveling southbound and a Hanover Park Police Department officer is traveling
northbound after dark at forty miles an hour. The officer spins around to
capture my wife. She wasn’t speeding. My wife pulls off the road in to a well
lit convenient store lot as she has been instructed by me to never just pull
off to the side of the road. It endangers the officer and her. The officer
approaches her and says the reason why I pulled you over is you are not wearing
your seat belt. My wife interrupts him and states that she is wearing her seat
belt. She was wearing the lap belt portion and the shoulder strap was behind
her. My wife is a short person. If she puts the shoulder strap in front of her
it becomes more of a noose with decapitation capability than a restraint. She
then moved the strap in front of her to show the officer. The officer moves on
to his next point.
The officer then states that our car does not have a front
license plate. This is true. It was removed so that I could reduce the car’s
length by two inches and that it was easier to park my car in my short drive
way. I also banged my knee on it one too many times when walking between the
cars. At this point the officer requests her license and proof of insurance. My
wife handed the officer proof of insurance and then told him that she does not
have her license with her. The officer then asks for her name and birth date.
My wife accidentally gave the birth month of her mother and not hers. The
officer runs her identification and she doesn’t exist. The officer becomes
annoyed and asks for the correct date, of which she does give. The officer
walks back to his car and confirms that she exists. He returns to my wife and
instructs her to follow him to the Hanover Park
Police station.
My wife follows him to the police station. The officer has
the lead position in the left turn lane. The traffic light is transitioning
from yellow to red. The officer is crossing the path of an oncoming truck who
wishes to share the yellow light as well. The truck screeches through the
intersection to avoid the police car. The officer motions my wife to continue
in to the police station parking lot while he pursues his next target. The
truck appeared to be speeding. Eventually the police officer returns to finish
the original arrest with my wife. My wife calls me from the police station and
requests me to bring up her license because she can’t prove who she is. At the
time we only had one car and I am watching the kids. Fortunately my friend was
visiting and was able run the errand for me. Two hours after the initial arrest the
officer drops the charges and sends my wife home.
It’s a strange set of circumstances. I can not tell exactly
what went wrong. It was definitely not a text book stop. I suggest next time
the officer write the ticket for no license plate and/or license and send my
wife on her way. I believe the officer went fishing and threw back the small
catch. There is no way he could have seen whether or not my wife was wearing a seat
belt at 40 miles an hour past the glare of her headlights. He was hoping that
if there is no front plate that there is something else amiss that he can add
on to. Statistically he is correct. Ethically he is wrong.
Last noise complaint. Come back when
you have a law to enforce
In the summer of 2007 my neighbors call the Hanover Park
Police Department again to complain about us being too noisy. My wife, son and myself are playing a shoot’em up game on each of our
computers. We are shooting monsters and occasionally each other in the game
when we run out of monsters. There is a knock at my door at 8.30 pm from two
Hanover Park Police Department officers. The officer formally greets me and
states that our next door neighbor called to complain. I replied that I am
sorry to hear that. The other officer is then requesting that I step outside
for a moment to talk. I ignore his request as I know what he is trying to do. I
inform the officers that there are numerous sound complaints between both
houses. I state to the officers that we are playing video games at a moderate
level. The other officer requests again that I step outside. I knew what the
other officer was doing and his second attempt agitated me. As long as I stay
in my home, I do not have to identify myself or comply with his orders. If I
step outside he can now force me to identify and thus issue a citation. If I
had stepped outside, I lose some of my protective rights. I interrupt the
officers with my final statement, “I am aware of Hanover
Park’s sound laws. I apologize for the disturbance but we are not
breaking any law. You can come back at 11pm when the law you are enforcing has
merit. I can assure you then we will be quiet. Goodnight gentlemen.” The other
officer is trying to assert himself yet again to entice me to step outside. I
closed the front door and locked it. We went back to our games. At 10pm we wind
down from the games and put the kids away to watch a bedtime movie.
Final Thought. Good bye. Don’t live
here.
I’ve been in Hanover Park
for 13 years. I know many merchants. I was hoping to raise my children here.
Being rooted has many advantages for a parent. As my children grow, there are
more eyes than just mine watching them. If I go in to Home Depot some one inevitably
asks where’s you son? I go to True Value and the owner greets my son by name
and tells him he made popcorn just for him. We go to Wendy’s and the owner
greets us and asks if we want our regular order. When I used to smoke, the cigarette
shop owner asks about my kids by name. If my kids ever stepped out of line,
word would have gotten back to me from someone. It’s still pretty cool to have
the mayor occasionally remember my name when our paths cross. None of it is
worth it, if we are being harassed by bored Community Service officers, rookie
police officers and uneven code enforcement. I am tired of paying for Cook County’s
problems. Metra is a failure. CTA is red lined. Tollway system and Lottery is not paying for education in
the manner it was promised. It’s time for us to leave. We will no longer tolerate the falling property
values and increasing taxes. Good bye Hanover Park.