Cong. Danny K. Davis is set to introduce a resolution in Congress on Wednesday, Sept. 16 to rename the Oak Park Main Post Office on Lake Street in honor of slain Oak Park Police Detective Allan Reddins.
Reddins was killed on Nov. 29, 2024 while confronting an armed suspect outside the main library on Lake Street. The shooter, a habitual criminal with a violent history, refused police orders to put his hands up. Instead, he fired several shots from a gun he had stolen from a family member. One bullet struck Reddins just under his vest on his right side, causing massive internal damage. He died less than an hour later at Loyola Medical Center.
The suspect was then shot by an Oak Park police sergeant and is currently in jail awaiting trial on multiple murder charges.
Davis said it gratified him to support the effort to assure that the legacy of a cop so committed to his role as protector and public servant won’t be lost to the passing of time.
“We hope to get it processed before (the current) Congress ends,” Davis said. The resolution has the support of the Illinois House delegation, and the support of both US Senators Tammy Duckworth and Richard Durbin. He said he’s also contacted House leadership to help assure the resolution moves forward expeditiously.
Davis said naming the post office for Reddins was “The least to be done to pay tribute to an individual who has given his life protecting the rest of us. To honor his life, his legacy, and making sure the people in the community where he worked remember.”
Davis said the honor is also “a way of reinforcing the importance of law enforcement and the role law enforcement plays in all our lives. I think the connection of law enforcement to community is a very important aspect of it.”
Reddins was widely seen as someone who embodied the very best of law enforcement, an imposing yet caring man who was both a protector and a mentor, a genuine public servant who took to heart the motto “to serve and protect.”
“Detective Reddins was such a kind soul, who really cared about everybody he came in contact with,” Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman said. “Reddins’ greatest priority was to do his job with compassion and respect.”
Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson spoke of the “raw” feeling of that day after Thanksgiving 2024.
“Losing an officer in the line of duty is something I will never get over,” she said.
It was a day that rocked the police department to its foundation. Scaman recalled going to the hospital after the shooting and feeling overwhelmed by the impact of Reddin’s death on his fellow officers. She said she witnessed “members of the police department as a family in that devastating moment in Oak Park history.”
The impact was felt far beyond the police department. Days after Reddins’ murder, hundreds of people crowded into the village hall courtyard despite bitter cold to participate in a candlelight ceremony in his honor.
“We came together and focused on the humanity and the bravery of members of our first responders,” Scaman said. “Who put their lives on the line every day and run toward danger, instead of running away.”
Johnson seconded Scaman’s observation, saying, “Our community really came together during this. It wasn’t just the police department that was hurting.”
The process of deciding how to honor Reddins took time to unfold, both for Reddins family to process their grief, and for officials to settle on an appropriate honor.
“My engagement was about supporting the family,” Scaman said. “When the family was ready, when the family was interested and supportive of this next step, then I would be 100% supportive.”
“We did have a joint phone call with the family, and they are supportive,” she said.
“We’re just grateful (Reddins’) family consented to having this done,” said Davis.
Davis said he first approached the village last year. Scaman said Village Trustee James Taglia took the lead in dealing with Davis’s office on the details. Taglia said he was “just a conduit” to Davis, who, he said, told him, “I will do everything I need to do” to make the resolution happen.
Taglia lauded the broad support across elected village government and staff for honoring Reddins, saying, “Our village manager, village staff, the village board, all rallied around this. There was universal agreement.”
“There are many co-sponsors who agreed to support this, from both parties,” he added.
Taglia’s board colleague, Brian Straw called the honor “a wonderful idea,” and Reddins a hero whose sacrifice “should not soon be forgotten.”
“It’s the highest honor we can pay any individual,” Taglia said. “I wanted to make sure he wasn’t forgotten. It just needs to be memorialized and remembered.”
Johnson expressed hope that as the second anniversary of that tragic November day approaches, people can celebrate rather than mourn.
“I’m (utterly) grateful that he will be honored in such a noble manner,” she said. “The entire police department is looking forward to the day.”
Asked what her department was planning to bring to the ceremony, Johnson said, “We’ll collaborate with Danny Davis’s office and work together to make sure it’s memorable.”