Former Pro Boxer Takes Over Joliet Police Department

JOLIET, IL — New Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans gave a very short speech during his introduction presentation to the Joliet City Council at Tuesday night's meeting.

But his message got straight to the point.

"I just wanted to thank you for this opportunity. I can assure you that I will leave this place much better than I found it," Evans told the Council.

"I'm sure I will put my heart and soul into it, and I'm really excited to part of this organization and even more excited about being part of the city of Joliet and the community as a whole. That's it."

According to his Wikipedia page, Bill Evans is a 55-year-old Democrat who was born in Oak Lawn, who grew up in Beverly on Chicago's South Side. In 1985, Evans graduated from high school from St. Rita. He later played fullback and defensive back for Saint Joseph's College.

As a Chicago middleweight, Evans registered a 29-7 amateur record as a boxer and was ranked No. 2 in Illinois among middleweights in 1995, posting an undefeated record as a professional boxer from 1992 until 1996, his Wikipedia page proclaims.

On YouTube, there is a video called Bill Evans Boxing Highlights.

Evans becomes Joliet's first outside police chief since Dennis Nowicki and Joe Beasley served in that role, back to back, during the 1990s.

Nowicki and Beasley both came from the Chicago Police Department.

After 24 years on the job, Evans retired from the Cook County Sheriff's Office in September 2016 where he was a lieutenant.

He spent several years in a command position investigating gang activity and 16 years in the SWAT unit. He was one of four candidates in the 2014 Democratic primary, finishing in second to incumbent Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli hired Evans for the job. In October, Capparelli got rid of Dawn Malec after less than nine months on the job. Malec had replaced Al Roechner, who accepted a raise of more than $31,000 to spike his pension in exchange for submitting his immediate notice of resignation, in January 2021.

Since Malec's demotion back to a patrol lieutenant in October, deputy chief of operations Rob Brown served as temporary chief the past five months.

With Evans on the force, Brown returns to his deputy chief assignment. Joliet's three other deputy chiefs are: Sherrie Blackburn, Carlos Matlock and newly promoted Chris Botzum.