Burr Ridge is now signing up residents for a free “village academy,” a civics class meant to educate residents about the functions of local government.
According to the village website, the 10-week course “offers participants a firsthand look at various facets of local governance, covering subjects like village administration, police operations, and more.”
Part of the ‘and more’ includes a police background check on anyone who signs up for the course that’s concerning for one resident who is urging people to avoid the course if they value their privacy. Village Administrator Evan Walter says the checks are routine — other villages that offer similar workshops conduct such checks — and they offer the town a way to weed out bad actors who could have a history of personal conflicts with anyone in the course.
However, Patti Davis said the system isn’t fail-safe because bad actors could get in anyway if they don’t have any police record and thus the check shouldn’t be required.
“I’ve never been arrested and therefore have no record,” Davis said in an email interview. “I could pass the village’s ‘background check.’ That’s not the point. The point is: I shouldn’t have to. And neither should other Burr Ridge residents.”
But Walter said so far, no one has been denied entry into this free course or any other seminar offered in Burr Ridge.
“Burr Ridge historically performed these checks in the past when it was just the police academy; I am not aware of anyone being excluded from those sessions as a result of a background check. I have never observed other towns who offer these types of classes not performing similar checks,” Walter said.
Again, he emphasized the checks are for public safety, not as a tool for intimidating residents or intruding on privacy.
“The purpose of the background check is to ensure that the Village can discover whether anyone with active warrants or orders of protection against other potential participants in the academy,” he said.
Davis said she’s also concerned that village elected officials like the mayor or trustees wouldn’t be subject to background checks should they register for the civics course, though Walter said that’s not the case — anyone who registers is given the same check. Still, Davis said some protective orders might not show up in a criminal background check. Protective orders — basically restraining orders usually against domestic abusers intended to protect victims — can be ordered by a judge through a civil process, though some do come from a criminal prosecution.
But even police-issued warrants and prosecutions do not indicate a resident is a danger to anyone. Thus, Davis maintains, the check is little more than an intimidation tactic or a means to prevent course attendance and not a guarantee against malicious participation.
“A warrant out on somebody isn’t a conviction and isn’t criminal, either,” she said. “A resident can have an active warrant for not paying numerous parking tickets, for example. The village’s required background check would uncover nothing except real criminal activity. It is unnecessary, unwarranted, and intrusive and the village’s reasoning is completely disingenuous.”
Either way, the village’s reasoning is by now a moot point. With weeks left to register, Walter said the current course is already full and any new signups will go on a waiting list for a course that might come years from now.
“The Academy will be limited to 25 participants per class, and we have already received more than 25 registrations,” he said. “Participants will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis, with those not able to immediately participate placed on a waiting list and given priority to the next class.”
The next class has not yet been arranged, though Walter said the plan is to hold a course “every few years.”
Davis said she agrees the course is important and she supports the idea — if not the execution.
“I believe an informed citizenry is an engaged one,” Davis said. “The idea of Village Academy is a good one: to educate residents about how their village works. But in registering, the first lesson residents learn is, the village is overbearing and exclusive.”
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
