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The Regional News: Palos Heights patrol officer has keen eye for spotting drunken drivers
by Tim Hadac

In a police department dedicated to getting drunk and drugged drivers off the road, Officer John Parnitzke stands out.

In 2014, Palos Heights police made 101 DUI arrests. A third of them—34, to be specific—were made by Parnitzke, who was praised for his efforts by Alderman Jerry McGovern (4th Ward), himself a retired Chicago police officer, at a City Council meeting earlier this year.

“With the amount of highway deaths in Illinois that have happened over the last few years [due to DUI-related causes], he should be commended,” McGovern said.

While the alderman praised Parnitzke’s dedication, he added that different police officers have different knacks for spotting certain crimes, be it impaired driving, burglaries, shoplifting or any number of offenses. One of Parnitzke’s obvious strengths, he said, is spotting drunk and drugged drivers.

Parnitzke deflected the praise and instead credited the Palos Heights Police Department, which he said offers specialized training that some other law enforcement agencies do not. He also chalked up the numbers to departmental leadership committed to “creating a certain culture, an environment where we very aggressively patrol the streets, to keep them safe for the citizens. That matters. It filters through.”

Parnitzke, 31, has been a police officer for more than seven years and joined the Palos Heights Police Department in June 2011.

“This is a great place to work,” he said during a conversation with The Regional News at police headquarters, 7607 W. College Drive. “We have leadership committed to training and it’s refreshing to be equipped with the state-of-the-art technology we need to do our jobs.”

Like most people, Parnitzke has a personal story to tell about the effects of drunk driving.

“When I was 12 years old, I had a best friend whose older brother—an 18-year-old high school student--was killed in a DUI crash,” he recalled. “He was a passenger in a car driven by someone who was impaired. He was a good kid, but you know, a few bad decisions and, well, that’s how it typically goes.”

But it is professionalism, not personal recollections, that motivates Parnitzke. “It’s important to separate the person from the offense,” he said. “[With most DUIs], these are normal people who just made a mistake. Sometimes we encounter people who are impaired but actually, at some point, thank us for stopping them.”

The department’s vigorous enforcement of DUI laws on the books continues this year, Parnitzke added.

“Last year, we made 101 [DUI] arrests as a department, and already this year, we’re pushing that number and should be on pace to almost double it by year’s end,” he said.

The projected increase is part of the department’s push to keep “Palos Heights a great, safe community,” according to Deputy Chief David Delaney. “There were 322 deaths throughout Illinois in 2013 (the latest data available) resulting from DUI drivers. There are far too many ruined lives and families, as evidenced by the numerous blue and white memorial signs posted on the roads. Our goal is to reduce those tragedies by eliminating them in Palos Heights.

“No one is out to arrest those adults that have a couple drinks with dinner, but once they've chosen to drink until they're impaired, we will do what we can to take these dangerous drivers off the road,” Delaney said, adding that the quick-step pace of DUI arrests is “due to the department reinforcing the costs that these arrests can have in people's lives. This is directly related to the hard work of Officer Parnitzke and the rest of the men and women of the Palos Heights Police Department that we are able to attain these levels.”


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