Departments work together when jurisdiction seems fuzzy

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AURORA – A few years ago, the Aurora Police Department started working on a murder case.

It turned out it wasn’t theirs, but that didn’t cause a problem when the Kane County Sheriff’s Office took it over, spokesman Dan Ferrelli said. Law enforcement throughout Kane County have learned to cooperate to get the job done, even when jurisdiction might be unclear initially.

“If you look at jurisdiction as a larger picture,” Ferrelli said, “they’re not brick walls anymore. Cooperating is certainly in everyone’s best interest.”

Jurisdiction relates to what area a police department or law enforcement agency is responsible. Typically, when a place incorporates, its boundaries define that authority. However, at times, areas that have been left out of the incorporation geographically might seem to be part of a place, but in fact they are a different department’s responsibility.

For example, part of Randall Road in the northwest part of St. Charles falls on the county’s watch. Similarly, the city of Aurora encompasses some unincorporated areas in which its department is not responsible.

“Sometimes, it comes down to a matter of feet,” said Lt. Pat Gengler, spokesman for the sheriff’s office. “It has to fall somewhere. There are times when that’s ours when you might think ‘Well, wait, isn’t that Geneva, or isn’t that Batavia?’ ”

Some places might have incorporated but don’t have their own police departments, such as Lily Lake. The county remains responsible to police it.

Ferrelli said that, although jurisdictional bounds once were hard to cross, agencies have been cooperating more than ever since Sept. 11.

“Agencies just didn’t want to give up their jurisdictional boundaries,” Ferrelli said. “It was changing a culture.”

One way law enforcement deals with the question is by using the Tri-Com dispatch system, which can settle disputes. Aurora’s computerized dispatch system prints the police and fire jurisdictions of every calls’ address. Departments use detailed maps and train staff to recognize what’s theirs to cover.

Mutual-aid agreements mean that more than one department will respond to accidents and other calls.

“If Elburn needs help, we may go,” Anderson explained. “And if we needed help, county might help us.”

Most times, though, it comes down to simply working together on scene.

“For the most part, we all work together because our ultimate goal is to serve the public and that doesn’t happen if we’re fighting with each other,” Gengler said.