The village of Brookfield is moving full steam ahead on joining a mutual aid network for suburban municipal police departments that will permit it to call upon neighboring villages’ departments for extra support when the Brookfield Police Department cannot handle an emergency on its own.
At its Feb. 12 meeting, the Brookfield village board entered into a mutual aid agreement with the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, which approved the agreement in a January executive board meeting. According to the agreement and NIPAS’ website, as a member agency of NIPAS, the Brookfield Police Department will be able to call on the network to provide up to 50 additional officers during any “emergency situation” that “exceeds [its] stand-alone physical and organizational capabilities.” In exchange, Brookfield must offer up its own officers to provide support to other member agencies, which number over 100 across five counties, whenever they call upon the network. According to village officials, all of the municipalities surrounding Brookfield are already NIPAS member agencies.
According to the agreement, all member agencies are allowed to decline sending officers when the network is activated if “local conditions prohibit response.” Member agencies must pay an annual $5,500 fee to participate in NIPAS.
NIPAS also offers the services of its emergency services team to its member agencies. According to NIPAS’ website, the EST is akin to a SWAT team, able to respond to “high-risk” incidents like hostage scenarios, search and rescue missions and others. Over time, the EST has expanded its equipment to include a fully equipped mobile command vehicle, an armored rescue vehicle and more.
According to NIPAS’ website, for member agencies to call on the EST, they must identify a qualified officer from their own police department who can join the team after passing a “careful screening process.” According to village officials, the Brookfield Police Department has identified such an officer from the village who they expect to join the EST. Brookfield will pay about $25,000 to outfit the officer with equipment before they can join the EST, including ballistic gear, a rifle, a radio, medical equipment and more.
In addition to the EST, NIPAS also offers its member agencies access to its mobile field force “when a major civil disturbance occurs.” According to NIPAS’ website, the mobile field force is deployed in response to civil disorder, public demonstrations, union conflicts and other events involving “unruly crowds.” Like the EST, the mobile field force requires member agencies to provide an officer to join its ranks before they can call on it in times of civil disturbance.
NIPAS was founded in 1983 by 15 member agencies after severe flooding had stretched each agency’s resources thin the year before. According to its website, a “governing board consisting entirely of police chiefs directs NIPAS and approves its annual budget,” which is composed of the annual fees that member agencies pay. It is not clear how often or where NIPAS is deployed.
