Joliet Police Detective Gets $104,346 Retirement Buyout

JOLIET, IL - In 2018, Joliet Police Department deputy chiefs Tab Jensen, Ed Gregory, Brian Dupuis along with the embattled chief of police, Brian Benton, all opted to retire from the city of Joliet with retirement buyouts in excess of $100,000. Now, all four are collecting pensions above $100,000 annually as well. In July, a Joliet Police detective also received more than $100,000 for cashing out his fringe benefits through the city of Joliet.

Joliet Police Detective Jeff Kneller retired after working the Fourth of July, a paid holiday. In addition to getting his police pension, Kneller also made $104,346 for cashing out his large nest egg of unused vacation, sick days and his massive bank of comp time.

According to city documents obtained by Joliet Patch as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request, Kneller was allowed by the city to rack up 892 hours of unused vacation time - which is more than 22 work weeks. On top of that, Kneller also built up more than 691 hours of comp time, which was more than 17 weeks of extra pay.

Kneller also got paid another $21,243 for his sick leave, which is 40 percent of 1,012 hours.

The city listed Kneller as a master patrol officer, and he was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police labor union led by President Mike Devito.

In 2017, Kneller made $130,090 for the city and last year he made $134,422 in compensation.

Kneller had been assigned to Plainfield South High School where he served as the police liaison officer.