Joliet's New Police Chief: Ex-Cook County Sheriff Taking Over

JOLIET, IL — William "Bill" Evans, who ran in 2014 for Cook County Sheriff, losing to incumbent Tom Dart, will become the next permanent police chief for the Joliet Police Department, Joliet Patch has learned.

City manager Jim Capparelli has chosen Evans, who was a lieutenant for Cook County before retiring, to become Joliet's new permanent chief.

Evans served the Cook County Sheriff’s Police for nearly 25 years, most recently as a lieutenant and area watch commander, supervising sergeants and patrol officers in the southern portion of Cook County, according to the city of Joliet.

He has extensive experience leading SWAT assignments, and created and implemented training programs for other multi-regional SWAT teams. His most recent experience has been with the United States Department of Defense at the National Security Agency, along with corporate security management and training. Evans was a successful professional boxer in the 1990s and became the head coach of the Cook County Sheriff’s boxing program.

"I am tremendously honored to be selected as Joliet’s chief of police,” Evans said in Wednesday's news release from City Hall. “I look forward to creating new relationships and being part of this community. I am hoping I can influence our rank-and-file members to be the very best version of themselves.”

It's the first time Joliet has hired someone outside the city for the police chief position since the 1990s, when it had two outside chiefs, both from the Chicago Police Department. In 1989, 47-year-old Chicago police captain Dennis Nowicki was hired as Joliet's new chief of police. Nowicki stayed with Joliet for three years. He was then replaced by fellow Chicago police official Joseph Beasley.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Evans was at the Cook County Sheriff's Office for 24 years, from 1992 until September 2016. He was a commanding officer in emergency services and a lieutenant in traffic patrol and field operations.

From September 2016 until September 2017, Evans was in Washington, D.C. with the NSA for the United States Department of Defense. From December 2017 until September 2019, Evans was with the Protech Security Group as a corporate banking security manager.

Since September 2019, Evans has been a security professional on Chicago's Michigan Avenue with Strategic Security Solutions Inc., according to LinkedIn.

After getting rid of Malec after about nine months on the job, Capparelli said that Robert Brown is now serving as interim chief, but Brown will not become the city's permanent chief.

"Brown is a temporary chief," Capparelli stressed.

Capparelli assured Patch that the next chief of police would not come from within the ranks of the Joliet Police Department, back in October.

"We need fresh eyes," Capparelli said at the time. "Hopefully, we'll get someone who is at least familiar with Joliet."

In January 2021, Malec replaced Al Roechner, who agreed to retire and accept a $31,000 raise to increase his police pension in exchange for submitting his immediate retirement in January. Last September, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced that his agency is conducting an investigation into allegations of unlawful police practicing within the Joliet Police Department during the past decade.