Hoffman Estates gets closer to new police station

Hoffman Estates is closer to spending $2.9 million on land for a new police station.

A closing date of Jan. 9 has been set for the land at 401 W. Higgins Road. The parcel has been home to a bevy of restaurants.

The current building on premises would have to be demolished.

Monday the village board hit a procedural snag when attempting to approve the expenditure. As a result, the board may have to call a special meeting next week to vote again on it and properly follow protocol.

Police Chief Clinton Herdegen said his department has outgrown its current quarters at 1200 Gannon Drive, which also housed the village's administrative offices before operations shifted in 1971 to the former insurance building that is now the village hall. There are 105 members on the Hoffman Estates Police Department.

Police officials have toured other police stations in neighboring towns, Herdegen said. While a site plan for the future station does not exist, Herdegen said his staff is excited at the possibility of having facilities on par with their peers.

One such amenity would be a multipurpose room, which could be used to host the department's citizens police academy.

In other police-related news, trustees voted to switch forensic crime laboratories from the Illinois State Police Crime Laboratory to the Northern Illinois Regional Crime Laboratory in Vernon Hills.

The new lab is a private nonprofit facility. While Herdegon praised the state crime lab, he said the Vernon Hills lab will give his department access to more services.