Oak Lawn renews school officer, other police agreements with District 229

The Oak Lawn Village Board this week renewed agreements for a police liaison officer for the Oak Lawn High School District 229, access school cameras in real time and for police to write tickets for parking violations on school property.

“We have had a school resource officer assigned to the school for years,” said police Chief Dan Vittorio in an email. “This agreement allows him and other officers who work security details to be covered under the school’s insurance policy.”

Oak Lawn officers are trained to be ready for incidents of serious violence, Vittorio said.

“The security camera agreement allows the department live access to their cameras in case we need to respond to a critical incident such as an active shooter,” he said.

But officers also write tickets.

“The parking lot is school property and this agreement allows us to take enforcement action for any parking violations,” Vittorio said.

School districts may not write students tickets, by state law. But police can write tickets to anyone, so many school districts allow police on campus to do that. The system brings in revenue to community coffers, but it can also lead to student debt and, in some cases, profits for private collection agencies over minor infractions.

According to a report by Pro Publica and the Chicago Tribune, Oak Lawn police have written 117 tickets to high school students from 2019 to 2021, for violations including vaping or tobacco possession. These tickets typically only result in fines, but even minor offenses have resulted in tickets as high as $750. Unlike some communities, Oak Lawn allows unpaid student tickets to go to collection agencies.