Call...

...if you've got a beef with the Park Ridge Police Department!

Park Ridge resident, Jayne Reardon, has shown herself to be one of Park Ridge's finest. After having a most unfortunate encounter with some of Park Ridge's much-less-than-finest police officers, Ms. Reardon made the effort to see to it the police department brass got their department policy ass in gear.

Unfortunately for the PRPD, they didn't, and Ms. Reardon has had to make her concerns very public.

She's attended city council meetings and, after having had her concerns covered in the local rags, has received countless telephone calls from residents eager to share their own stories of police drama woe with her.

Amity Jayne Reardon has acted as a voice of the people on this issue, and has done a very respectable job of it. A lesson to which we hope each and every elected official and city staffer is paying very close attention and taking notes.

Ms. Reardon comes fully loaded with impeccable credentials and an impressive title: Deputy Director for the Commission on Professionalism of the Illinois Supreme Court.

That would be THE Illinois Supreme Court, thankyouverymuch!

In other words, the city and police department administration aren't likely to win any game of hide-the-complaint-salami with this woman.

Even cranking up selected members from the Usual Suspects Club, to write glowing letters of praise for the local rags about the police in Park Ridge, probably won't have the desired effect of deterring Ms. Reardon from her self-appointed rounds with city officials on this issue.

As Ms. Reardon has discovered, the command of fear is run silent, run deep. But we say, damn the torpedoes Jayne! Full speed ahead!

We admit it, we are shameless in our adoration for those who step-up to the plate and take a swing at making their local government accountable. We're even more shameless in our adoration for those who do so on such touchy subjects as highly questionable conduct by police officers.