Woodridge Resident: We Need Our Police to Answer 911 Calls Again

Woodridge Patch accepts letters to the editor. The following was submitted by Woodridge resident Frank Fletcher-Broucek.

If you're interesting in submitting a letter, e-mail Woodridge Patch Editor Sabrina Wu at sabrina@patch.com.

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Woodridge residents need to get their Police Dept. answering 911 calls again.  This does not work well for us on weekends. 

My family members received tornado warning messages just before 2:45 pm, Sunday, Oct. 14. They called and texted me the warnings and I am told to head downstairs, but I am not hearing the sirens go off north or south of our home in Woodridge.  

I called 911 and asked for the Woodridge Police Dept. building in Woodridge, but the person answering the phone says that there is no one there in Woodridge.  I asked if there was a "Tornado Warning issued for Woodridge—yes or no?" and "Why aren't the sirens going off?" The 911 service we now have says that a "Woodridge Official has to call them before they set off the sirens." She stops talking to me and connects me to a recorded message system that says that "Our area has been issued a tornado warning, take cover."  I heard it two times before I hung up.  

Well, I would not expect the Mayor, a Board Member, or the Village Manager to be working on a Sunday here, but we used to have a police department with people in it 24/7, and they are Woodridge officials that can set off our sirens as they watch the information coming in.  

I think that the iphone apps and phone calls made here were suitable for our family interests before 3 p.m. this past Sunday, but for the rest of Woodridge that does not have an iphone, we would all still be better off listening to a siren for a tornado warning that our taxes paid for—even on the weekend!   

Get the Woodridge Police Department back on the job and in the building 24/7, answering the residents' phone calls and watching the monitors for information regarding our safety, because the sirens are silent on the weekends.  

—Frank Fletcher-Broucek Woodridge, IL