Police Notification and Interaction Guidelines

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School administrators contact the Crystal Lake and/or Lake in the Hills Police Departments in two situations: emergency and non-emergency.

Emergency: School administrators have the responsibility to call 9-1-1 when they determine a situation to be a safety emergency that is an immediate threat of danger or imminent harm to students, staff, or other school personnel. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Active use, possession, and/or concealment of a firearm/destructive device, or other weapons or “look-alikes”, or the use or intent to use an object as a weapon to inflict serious bodily harm to a person.
- A bomb threat
- An act of physical violence by a student that is in progress and unable to be safely deescalated or stopped by school officials.
- Medical emergency
Non-Emergency: School administrators partner with the police department on a variety of topics. As a result, police may be at one of our school for situations that include, but are not limited to:
- notifying police when a student engages in alleged illegal behavior, or as required by law
- performing a wellness check,
- conducting investigations related to property damage
- Investigations in collaboration with DCFS
- Reading to classrooms
- Traffic control for special events
- Drug dog sweeps

Student Rights

Students maintain the following rights when interacting with local law enforcement:

Students have the right to refuse to speak to local law enforcement
Students can refuse to give consent to be searched by the police, including electronic devices. This may not stop the search.
Students shall not be left alone with police officers at any time.
Students shall not be removed from the classroom or common areas of the school by police officers unless an emergency exists, as listed above.
School administrators must make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the student’s parent/guardian is present during questioning by law enforcement, or if the parent is not available, that a school administrator is present during questioning.

State Reporting

The District is required to report certain incidents to the Illinois State Board of Education through the School Incident Reporting System (SIRS) related to student attendance. (105 ILCS 5/26-3a)

Students who no longer attend school due to: expulsion, withdrawal (for reasons other than transfer), removal from the attendance rolls due to non-attendance, and chronic and habitual truants.
Students who have re-enrolled or returned to regular attendance. The following incidents are required to be reported to appropriate law enforcement authorities, who then periodically report to the ISBE.
Battery to staff (105 ILCS 5/10-21.7)
Drug offenses (105 ILCS 5/10-27.1B)
Firearm offenses (105 ILCS 5/10-27.1A)

Additionally, local law enforcement will be notified consistent with the provisions set forth in the Student Code of Conduct, when a student is suspected of having engaged in criminal conduct other than that noted above. Information regarding students with disabilities reported to local law enforcement may be shared with appropriate authorities, consistent with IDEA and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

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