Local agencies work together in a unique task force to tackle crime

BY ANNA HUGHES

DuPage County is home to a one-of-a-kind, crime-fighting task force. Founded in 2019, the Metropolitan Emergency Response and Investigative Team (MERIT) enlists highly skilled law enforcement personnel from 37 agencies across the county. Together, these officers collaborate efficiently and effectively to ensure public safety for the communities they serve.

“It really is what I like to call a pooling of our public safety resources in DuPage, so that we can surge them together and respond to major incidents adequately,” Elmhurst Chief of Police Mike McLean said. “That really allows us to handle things that require a lot of staffing: things like murder investigations, SWAT call-outs, hostage negotiations, or crisis responses.”

McLean, who serves as the Chairman of MERIT, said that the task force allows for a proactive approach to major incidents. MERIT’s 12 different units each have specialized teams with the proper staffing, equipment, and training to respond to high-level situations.

“We take the best from each police department within DuPage County to create a best-of-the-best team to respond to the incident,” McLean said.

All of these units undergo regular advanced training, so they are ready to respond whenever a call occurs. MERIT has been called into action over 1,000 times since 2019, including 142 times over the last year.

“The most important thing about MERIT is the fact that we share resources and manpower.”

— Deputy Chief Mike Pentecost, Glendale Heights

“Some of [those instances] were criminal investigation assistance, some of them were fatal traffic crash investigations, some of them were SWAT call-outs, some of them were assistances by our canine team or drone team to search for suspects,” McLean said. “MERIT responds regularly to assist our member agencies. It’s something that has become kind of a routine matter of business for DuPage County, which I truly believe leads to the high-quality law enforcement and public safety that we have,” McLean said.

Mike Pentecost, Deputy Chief in Glendale Heights, serves alongside McLean as MERIT’s Deputy Coordinator of Investigative Operations. A detective himself, he oversees the Major Crimes Unit, which includes the Public Integrity Unit, Forensic Investigations Unit, and Digital Forensics Unit. Pentecost holds himself to the highest standard in this role.

“My job as the deputy coordinator is to make sure that my component commanders and every member of the units I oversee are put in the best position to succeed,” Pentecost said. “Not only am I trusted by the board, I’m trusted by my component commanders, and I’m trusted by every member of the units, as well as the community that we all serve, to make sure that we are in the best position to successfully conclude any task that is given to us.”

Pentecost said MERIT helps fill in gaps he’s watched develop throughout his career.

MERIT’s mobile command and investigative resources support law enforcement agencies across DuPage County during major incidents.

“When I first started 26 years ago, the crime, especially here in Glendale Heights, seemed to be more local, so we’re able to handle a lot of the stuff on our own,” Pentecost said. “Now, the way crime has shifted, it’s very, very transient and mobile, so usually when we’re getting hit with crimes, so are the surrounding communities, so the collaboration between departments becomes more and more important.”

“There are many cases that we [Glendale Heights] are not financially, as far as manpower and equipment, capable of investigating on our own,” he continued. “So, the most important thing about MERIT is the fact that we share resources and manpower.”

MERIT is not a separate full-time law enforcement agency, McLean explained. Rather, it operates alongside the everyday duties of each local agency.

“Every role within MERIT I would classify as part-time and voluntary,” McLean said.

Despite the extra time, effort, and training required, McLean said members look at their involvement as an honor.

“It’s a compliment to be told, ‘Hey, you’re an expert, we want you, we want your expertise as part of this task force,’” he said.

McLean said MERIT has been contacted in recent years by law enforcement agencies across the country who are looking to adopt a similar task force within their own communities. Both he and Pentecost would recommend it to others.

“It’s been nothing but successful as far as our end,” Pentecost said. “Many, many other counties should really copy our model here. It’s worked out quite well for us.”