BENSENVILLE COPS TO FIGHT FOR JOBS

Most Accused Officers Will Resist Village's Efforts

At least six of the 10 Bensenville Police officers implicated in allegations
of running an unlicensed private security company from department offices
will fight village efforts to fire them, their attorney said Monday.

All 10 officers formally notified village officials of their intentions on
Monday, according to attorney Joseph Mazzone, chief counsel for the
Metropolitan Alliance of Police, the union representing the officers.

"I'm offering to open the door and see if we can negotiate this without a
lot of litigation," Mazzone said, adding that he is proposing a private
meeting with village administrators soon. He declined to specify the number
of officers who will fight for their jobs, except to say that it is a
majority.

"We would really rather sit down and negotiate a settlement," he said, "and
get these guys back to work."

Chicago attorney Theodore Poulos, a former federal prosecutor who conducted
an investigation of the Police Department, and Village Manager Kurt
Bressner, who is serving as acting police chief, declined to comment on
Mazzone's offer. Village President John Geils did not return phone calls
Monday.

The controversy began in January 1998, when federal and local authorities
raided a Bensenville bar owned by the parents of a police sergeant.
Authorities confiscated cocaine and marijuana and arrested four people,
including the sergeant's brother, in the raid on the now-shuttered Club
Latino.

The raid generated questions about improprieties within the Police
Department and, in February 1998, village officials hired Poulos, an
attorney with the firm Cotsirilos, Stephenson, Tighe & Streicker.

While conducting his probe, Poulos said he uncovered evidence that police
officers ran the unlicensed, unregistered security firm, Bensenville
Security Services, from the Police Department from 1985 through 1998, using
village equipment.

Poulos said records indicated the unlicensed firm took in more than $700,000
from 1993 through 1998, and that the 10 officers failed to report more than
$124,000 in income earned from the security firm during that time.

On Jan. 14, the village placed the 10 officers on paid suspension, the first
step toward firing the officers. The village, which has submitted the
information to the U.S. attorney's office, is declining to disclose the
officers' names publicly.

But supporters of the men contend the amount of unreported income is
relatively modest and that the village ignored misconduct, including
unreported income from Bensenville Security Services, among other officers.

Supporters also argue that administrators in the Police Department and in
Village Hall condoned the security service. Now, supporters say, those
administrators are using the company's existence as a way of clearing out
officers in an effort to exert improper control over the department.

Village officials have said they disbanded the security company within weeks
of discovering it existed. In earlier statements, Geils said the officers'
alleged illegal conduct occurred for many years and included extensive use
of municipal equipment, including police radios, computers and uniforms.

Mazzone acknowledged that the 10 officers "mistakenly or intentionally"
failed to pay taxes on income earned through Bensenville Security Services.
Those discrepancies can be resolved by filing an amended tax return, paying
the owed taxes and a penalty with interest, Mazzone said.

"It's done all the time, all the time," he said of paying a cash penalty on
amended tax returns. "It's done by police officers, lawyers, mayors, all
sorts of people."

Firing the officers is far too severe a penalty, Mazzone said.

"There's no question about it," he said. "In a lot of circumstances, this
was simply an oversight."

He added that most of the officers cited for failing to report the security
service income have filed amended returns and that those who have yet to
file will do so shortly.

Many of the officers were unaware of "the facts and figures until the
village supplied them last week," Mazzone said.

"These officers are good officers," Mazzone added. "They deserve fair
treatment. . . . We just want these officers to get a good, fair deal."

As for the police officers who have decided to resign, Mazzone said they
told him the department was a near-impossible place to work now.

"They informed me that the environment in the Police Department was so
political and personal that, even if they did get their jobs back, they
could never have faith that the department would back them up," Mazzone said