Aside from historic architecture and landmarks, Elgin is well known for a family-friendly community. Two of the main contributors to having a welcoming community is the community itself, obviously, and the Elgin Police Department.

A goal of the Elgin Police Department is to engage with the youth of the community to better the future of Elgin which is why here has been a recent addition to teen interaction within the department.

The youth advisory committee was founded last year by a group of high school students and it is coordinated by Sergeant Rick Demierre, Lieutenant Rick Ciganek, and Commander Frank Trost. The idea of this committee is to continue planing “Teen Life” events for the rest of the year and work the way up to 2019.

Self defense for teens, lip sync battles, job fairs along with mock interviews, and movie nights are some of the events that have taken place in the past to engage teenagers and create a mutual relationship with police officers.

In the future some fun ideas to continue strengthening the relationship with the youth would be giving back to the community for thanksgiving, cooking with a cop and SWAT competitions, and crafts to donate to a shelter. “We here at the police department are very excited in continuing to dialogue and listen to our teen population,” says Sergeant Echeverria.