College of DuPage – Abbott & Costello – Who's on first?

DuPage Co. (ECWd) –
One of the most historic comedy routines known is the Abbott & Costello Who’s on First routine performed in 1953.  It is worth a review to see the correlation with the events a citizen went through regarding three College of DuPage Trustees.  (Who’s on First)
This statement, “I would also suggest citizens in the COD District to file a formal criminal complaint with Sheriff’s office and State’s Attorney”, has now turned into the 21st century ‘Who’s on First’  for a citizen in DuPage County.
That statement was near the end of this article exposing what we consider to be illegal actions by COD trustees McGuire, Birt, and Wozniak for the reasons stated in the article.

 What is a citizen to do when they wish to file a criminal complaint?

Let this be a lesson as to how broke the system is and how important it is for everyone to get involved in their local government as there is no other fix than We The People.

Here is my story – Ed Franckowiak
I spent over a week trying to find out how I could file a complaint against the COD Board of trustees.

• I started out at the DuPage county State’s Attorney’s office with a message I left on voice mail for a June or Julie.
• When I didn’t get a call back by close of business, I sent an email.
• I called the next day and left a voice mail for assistant state’s attorney named Tom.
• He called me back shortly after lunch. Saying he couldn’t divulge any information on any ongoing case.

He did state that he was getting many calls because of the ECWD email blast.

• I then called the DuPage County Sheriff’s office.
• The clerk handling the call said I needed to talk to the Glenn Elyn PD.
• Called them and they said I needed to contact the COD PD.
• I called the COD PD and they told me they were open 24×7.

I couldn’t get there Christmas eve or Christmas day. I drove there Sat Dec 26 around 10:00 AM. I called to find the exact room number and officer Munose asked what this was regarding.

• I explained that I wanted to file a complaint against the COD Board of Trustees.
• He then said that they were closed and that no one was there to take my complaint.
• I told him I was told that they were open 24×7.
• He said it would be a conflict of interest for them to take the complaint.

Closed and no one there to take the report or we won’t take it because of a conflict of interest?

• He said I should go to the sheriff or state’s attorneys office.

I was going to go on Monday morning, but because of the snow storm I decided to go on Tuesday morning.

• At the Sheriff’s office I had to talk into a red phone and talk to person sight unseen.
• After 10 minutes on hold, she informed me that I needed to go next door (State’s Attorney) to the 503 building second floor.

So if he needed to go next door to the State’s Attorney why was he told to go to the local PD the first time? 

• Went to the reception desk and was given a form to fill out. I filled it out and attached the information concerning the complaint.
• She took it and stapled that pages together and put into a machine to time stamp it.
• I asked if it would be assigned a number and was told no.
• I asked when I should expect to hear anything. She said about 2 or 3 weeks.

“I won’t hold my breath. After going around the merry-go-round twice, I don’t expect much to happen.”

Can you say, Who’s on first?

It appears that the entire legal system in place to protect the citizen’s rights has failed miserably.  Let me explain.

The alleged crime is a refusal to perform their mandated duties, known as Official Misconduct.  That statute was put in place specifically for public officials and employees. Any citizen can file a criminal complaint, commonly known as a police report.  Looking at the DuPage County States Attorney’s web site it would appear pretty straight forward.

There are three phases in the process:

1.  Complaint Phase
2. Investigation Phase
3. Charging Phase
4. Bond Phase
5. Pre-trial Phase
6. Trial Phase
7. Sentencing Phase

Complaint Phase – “When someone discovers or has reason to believe they are the victim of a crime, their first call should be to 9-1-1 if the crime is in progress, or to their local police department if the crime has already occurred. The police officers will either respond to the scene of the alleged crime or ask the victim to come to the police station to file a police report. In other instances, a police officer may observe a potential crime in progress and begin an investigation on his or her own.”

How is it that the local police, in this case College of DuPage, is able to refuse a citizen’s right to file a criminal complaint?  How is it that the DuPage County Sheriff’s office is able to refuse a citizen’s right to file a criminal complaint?
A local police department cannot refuse to take a complaint from a citizen because of a conflict.  They should take the complaint and inform the citizen that because of their perceived conflict they will have to forward it to the next higher level of police authority or at a minimum contact them directly and put the person in touch with the proper person to take the complaint, which in this case it would be the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office.
The fact the COD police refused to take a citizens complaint tells us there is clearly a need for training on their obligations as a law enforcement entity!  Official Misconduct is a criminal offense in the criminal code and they have taken an oath to enforce all our laws, not just the ones they want to.
The same would go for the DuPage County Sheriff’s office.  They have an obligation to accept a citizen’s complaint and investigate accordingly.  They failed as well!
It is pretty sad when a citizen has to go through this type of ‘Who’s on first’ comedy routine in order to demand elected officials are held accountable to the law.
We want to thank Mr. Franckowiak for his diligent effort in filing a formal criminal complaint against three COD Trustees who refused to perform their duties.
Below is a copy of the criminal complaint filed by Mr. Franckowiak.
[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/COD-BOT-complaint.pdf”]

 

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