Buffalo Grove mayor, police chief hold social media chat discussing safety programs

Heightened in-home gun safety, automated license plate camera readers and police drones are among the new public safety initiatives undertaken by the Buffalo Grove Police Department, officials say.

In a video interview with Village President Eric Smith and police Chief Brian Budds posted recently to YouTube, the village announced that the new public safety initiatives were also announced to village residents in an electronic newsletter.

Budds, who joined the village a year-and-a-half ago, said he was asked then to assess the police department and its technology. The chief said he identified some opportunities — particularly with gun safety, automated license plate readers and drones  — that contribute to his department’s effectiveness.

In a citizen survey last year, 95% of residents reported feeling safe walking through the neighborhood and 91% reported feeling safe in their homes, Budds said. He called that was a testament to his department’s work in the village.

The village first enacted a weapons control ordinance in 1994, Smith said, and it was updated twice, most recently last year, in an effort to add new language that emphasized firearms safety at home.

Trigger or gun locks are now required for all registered gun owners in the village, Budds said, and his department distributes two free gun locks per household. Residents can pick up the devices at the police department. The locks are secured in the gun chamber to prevent firing. The department partnered with Project Childsafe for distribution of the gun locks, the village leaders explained.

The police department plans to install its first automated license plate readers in the weeks ahead in parkways and designated areas throughout the village, Budds said. He explained that all the cameras take motion-activated images — not video — constantly monitoring license plates and features of vehicles traveling through the village, not the occupants of the vehicles.

“This is critically valuable to our investigations division for stolen or wanted vehicles,” Budds said. “Their sole purpose is to identify a hit on a car wanted or involved in a crime in another area or state. That information is relayed in real time to our officers and central dispatch.”

He said a key factor is it will be used in missing person cases but does not identify red light or speeding violations. Only law enforcement has access to the images, he said, and no data is saved after 30 days.

“People here want safety and this will add to that,” Smith said. ‘We’re trying to be smart here and use our resources to the best of our abilities.”

In addition, the department purchased a new drone using federal asset forfeiture funds. Budds said the state law on drones changed in recent years sparked by the mass shooting at the 2022 Fourth of July parade in Highland Park.

Police can now use drones for surveillance at parades and large public gatherings “to make sure nothing nefarious is happening at a public event,” Budds said. The department has two state certified drone operators on staff and he said they plan to use drone surveillance at the Buffalo Grove Pride Parade in June and Buffalo Grove Days in September.