(The Center Square) – The Oak Brook police chief welcomes an investigation into how the village obtained a multi-million taxpayer funded police technology contract.
In a report provided exclusively to The Center Square, The Oversight Project explains it started looking into a contract Oak Brook, Illinois entered with Fusus police technology after reviewing an inspector general report from Atlanta that included more than a dozen other cities.
The Oversight Project says that 2025 Atlanta Ethics Office report concluding an Atlanta Police Department official’s actions constituted at least an “appearance of impropriety” and recommended disciplinary action. It also showed how the official “duped” multiple cities into signing multimillion dollar contracts with FUSUS.
One of the jurisdictions mentioned in the Atlanta Ethics investigation was Oak Brook, Illinois. The Oversight Project obtained public records around the nearly $3.4 million, multi-year grant between Oak Brook and Fusus.
“The ones that we found in DuPage County are particularly alarming and so what we found here is that a Fusus employee, who is now deceased, actually had a cozy relationship with the Oak Brook Police Department,” Kyle Brosnan, general counsel for The Oversight Project, told The Center Square.
The Oversight Project said there should be an “exhaustive investigation” into the situation by public integrity and commercial regulators at the state and federal level.
“I’m an old congressional investigator that has done dozens of investigations and we make a concerted effort to reduce editorialization,” Brosnan said. “The records speak for themselves.”
Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis, who is named in The Oversight Project’s report, told The Center Square he welcomes an investigation.
“I welcome any investigation as it will not only clear me of any wrongdoing but will bring to light that effectiveness of the solutions the village has implemented in coordination with the attorney general’s office,” Strockis told The Center Square in an email.
While Strockis confirmed some of The Oversight Project’s findings, he denied others as “completely false.”
“… please note that I will take appropriate action to protect my name and reputation, as well as that of the village of Oak Brook,” Strockis said.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office, which is also named in the report, told The Center Square it is “confident” their process is “fair.”
“The organized crime grant process has awarded $5 million each year to our law enforcement partners combating organized retail crime across the state of Illinois,” said Annie Thompson, director of media relations with the Illinois Attorney General’s office. “To date, over 200 law enforcement grants have been awarded, and we are confident that our process is fair and supports local law enforcement efforts to address organized retail crime in their communities.”
In a Feb. 23, 2023 post to the Oak Brook Police Department’s Facebook page, the department said “It was an honor to host Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin at the Police Department today to display our Fusus Real Time Crime Center platform.”
“The Police Department was awarded grant funds from the Attorney General’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force that will greatly assist us with our pro-active policing efforts,” the post said.
Oak Brook received $166,889 in ORC grant funding from the attorney general’s office.
Axon, which bought Fusus, did not return multiple messages seeking comment.
Brosnan said the public wants police to have the best technology to keep the community safe, but the brazenness he said they found through public records is “certainly alarming.”
“You have contracting officials or folks with contracting authority sort of gearing taxpayer money to a particular entity.” He said that “is not the best stewards of taxpayer dollars, to put it mildly.”
Among the issues The Oversight Project alleges is Fusus received advance insider information on grant opportunities, and the company routinely received non-public information, including against competing vendors and confidential government communications.
