The Springfield Park District Police Department intends to double its full-time staff as part of its long-term plan to grow the police force.
The department plans to add three full-time officers with a base salary of $58,000, which may be higher depending on an applicant’s previous experience.
Springfield Park District Police Chief Patrick Murphy said the Springfield Park District Board authorized him to hire the additional officers during the district’s 2027 fiscal year, which began on May 1 and ends April 31, 2027.
The police department currently consists of Murphy, two full-time and three part-time officers.
Murphy retired from the Illinois State Police after 28 years of service and previously served as captain of patrol for the Park District. He has led the police department since 2022. His salary is $102,960 for the current fiscal year, making him the third highest-paid employee in the Park District.
Part-time officers are paid in a range of $20.50 to $22, while the three full-time officers receive a salary ranging from $60,340 to $62,670.
The police department also employs two civilian park rangers who aren’t sworn officers, he said. They assist with securing facilities, checking and closing bathrooms “and keeping a watchful eye out for suspicious activity and vehicles that are improperly left in the parks overnight,” Murphy said.
He said they’ve received several applications for officers but have yet made a decision on a candidate. If an individual is new to policing, they’ll be required to complete police training.
Springfield Park District executive director Derek Harms said filling the police positions can be challenging.
“We have very high standards in our police department, and we’re proud of that,” he said. “We’ve got a really solid police department. So, we want to make sure that who we hire is the right fit for us.”
Park police are connected to the Sangamon County Central Dispatch System, which makes all local law enforcement agencies in Sangamon County aware of the calls for services received.
“If it’s a critical call or a high priority call, with few exceptions, the nearest unit will respond,” Murphy said.
If the dispatch system receives a call that’s a low priority or non-emergency call related to the Park District, then only the Park District police will respond, he said.
Springfield Park District Board Trustee Kris Theilen said it’s a great benefit for the Park District to have its own police so that residents aren’t “having to wait for Leland Grove, Southern View, Grandview, Springfield, etc., to have time to come away from their calls for services at the parks.”
Illinois law requires police departments, including the Springfield Park District Police, to submit crime data to the Illinois State Police monthly.
According to the Illinois Uniform Crime Reporting portal, so far this year the Springfield Park Police have made no arrests. In 2025, four arrests were made and 41 offenses reported. The highest category listed was “simple assault,” which accounted for 18 of the incidents.
Murphy said the park police department isn’t generally confronted with serious crimes.
“They’re more minor violations of the law or manifestations of a bigger social issue, such as homelessness, drug abuse, juvenile supervision issues, things like that,” he said. “If you were to put it on a pie chart, the felony slice is small, and the public service slice is huge.”
Since the cellphone era, Murphy said they receive more phone calls than they once did for issues that may not have been reported previously.
“We get a lot more live reporting of questionable behavior, and even some parking issues that years ago no one probably would have taken the time to go find a pay phone and report that,” he said.
For instance, if someone is parking in handicapped zone, the park police may receive an image of the alleged violation, he said.
Murphy said calls for service this year as of Sept. 9 was 5,300, and he projects they’ll finish the year with around 8,500 calls of service.
Murphy said their most frequent calls for service are for open alcohol violations and welfare checks “of people who perhaps are sleeping or perhaps passed out.”
In addition to deterring encampments, the police also are a strong deterrent to vandalism, he said.
“A large part of what we do is based on just a steady, continuous, proactive presence and people seeing us out and about, and patrolling, and protecting and serving,” he said.
The parks have no homeless encampments, which Murphy attributes to frequent police presence and strict enforcement of the Park District’s hours of operation.
He said police officers offer to connect an unhoused person with resources.
“Whenever we have somebody who is receptive to our assistance, (we) try to get them into a shelter, try to get them off the street, try to get them whatever help they might need and whatever help we can avail them of,” Murphy said.
He said in the past they’ve partnered with American Legion for its Socks of Love program to hand out socks and toiletry items.
Harms said the plan to double the number of officers is “really not about fixing a problem. It’s just that we want to be proactive about things, and right now we’re just spread too thin.”
The Park District manages 36 parks, the Henson Robinson Zoo, the Washington Park Botanical Garden, several golf courses, two ice skating rinks, two pools and several rental venues.
The Springfield Park District Police Department has been in place since 1900. Harms said they are different from the city police since they know the parks “and so they’re able to respond quicker and, perhaps more importantly, they’re able to prevent problems before they get started,” he said.
The Park District Board held discussions in 2015 regarding whether to disband its police department and instead rely on the local municipal police department to oversee the security of the park system.
“What we discovered at that time, for a wide range of reasons, is that maintaining a police department is the right choice for us and for our community,” Harms said.
Springfield Park District Board President Leslie Sgro said the planned growth for the police department is more of an operational shift than it is anything else.
“Obviously, we’re happy when any of our partner agencies can respond and assist us, but it’s been tremendously helpful over the years to have our own police force,” she said.
Harms said the board won’t have to increase taxes to cover the cost for the growth in the police department.
