Blue Island PD Closed, Employee Tests Positive For Coronavirus

BLUE ISLAND, IL — The Blue Island Police Department has shut down operations after an employee tested positive for coronavirus, NBC 5 Chicago reported. The Cook County Sheriff’s Police and the Illinois State Police are assisting in patrolling and policing Blue Island.

Mayor Domingo Vargas told NBC the decision was made Sunday after a police department employee tested positive for COVID-19 last week. The employee had not been at work a week before the positive test result.

“We are working in the best interest of the city of Blue Island,” Vargas told NBC 5. “We’ve taken measures to address concerns, and we’re being proactive. Our main concern is the health and safety of our communities and our surrounding communities.”

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According to State Rep. Bob Rita (28th District) he was notified by a member of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s staff that the mayor had apparently ordered the police department to be shut down early Sunday morning.

“I was able to confirm that the police department was shut down at 1 a.m. [Sunday],” Rita said. “I tried calling the mayor. I talked to the aldermen and none of them was contacted. I talked with the police chief [Bernadine Rzab] and she confirmed the police department was ordered shut down by the mayor.”

Cook County Sheriff’s Police and the Illinois State Police are providing policing services for the city. A spokesman for Sheriff Tom Dart’s office said the sheriff's police department was contacted around 11 p.m. Saturday to "assist" Blue Island police.

The dispatcher who answered the non-emergency number said that Blue Island police were still operating, but she was not permitted to comment and referred questions to the police chief.

Like many area police departments, Blue Island police informed residents that starting March 17, officers would no longer be responding in person to low level incidents, such as property crimes and ordinance violations, in compliance with social distancing guidelines from the governor’s office. Residents were asked to file complaints by phone, but officers would continue responding to violent crime, domestic batteries and forced entry burglaries for the purpose of collecting evidence.

According to Rita, the police chief told him that an officer had reportedly tested positive for the new coronavirus.

“But it shouldn’t have shut down the whole police department,” Rita said. “My first concern was making sure Blue Island residents had policing and first responders protected.”

Vargas and Rzab did not immediately return phone calls and email seeking comment. The last message posted Saturday morning on the Blue Island Police Facebook page thanked a local business owner for providing meals to first responders.

This story is developing. More information will be added when it becomes available.

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