The massive manhunt for three suspects triggered by a veteran Fox Lake officer's death, now ruled a "carefully staged suicide," cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars – and that’s just for the first day of the search.
According to the Lake County Sheriff’s office, 99 police agencies came to the aid of the Fox Lake Police Department, supplying manpower, equipment and canines for a search for suspects possibly involved in the death of Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz.
The officer was last heard from the morning of Sept. 1 when he called for backup while on duty, reporting on his radio he was pursuing three suspicious men. Despite a months-long investigation, police never made any arrests, identified any suspects or established a motive.
NBC 5 Investigates contacted all 99 police agencies involved in the search and 84 said they sent a total of 462 officers to the one-day dragnet. Grayslake sent 10 officers and spent more than $9,000, while Des Plaines sent 28 at a cost of more than $10,000. Even Bannockburn, a village of 15,000 people, sent seven officers at a cost of more than $5,000, a little less than Antioch spent.
“This was an extraordinarily complex investigation with many moving parts which resulted in 150 separate investigators spending over 25,000 hours investigating this case," said Detective Christopher Covelli with the Lake County Sheriff's office.
If multiply those 25,000 hours by the average hourly salary for a detective in Lake County, Illinois, the sum is more than $900,000 in manpower alone.
The cost doesn’t just impact law enforcement; there is an additional cost to the community who organized fundraisers and contributed to the Glinewicz family.
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Among the biggest gifts was $15,000 from the 100 Club of Chicago that supports fallen officers. In light of the staged suicide finding, CEO Joe Ahern said the organization will ask for its money back.
"There are no winners here," said Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Commander George Filenko. "Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community."
