Joliet's Only Deputy Chief Who Wasn't Demoted Opts To Retire

JOLIET, IL — Mike Batis, the Joliet Police Department's only deputy chief who was allowed to remain in his position under the administration of new city manager Jim Capparelli and new chief of police Dawn Malec, has finished his career with the city, Patch has learned.

Sept. 9 marked Batis' last day with the Joliet police force. Malec's administration notified other members of the department of Batis' retirement, but the department did not issue any type of news release informing the community nor make an announcement on social media.

Back on Jan. 15, the Joliet Police Department posted on Facebook several photos of Batis, Carlos Matlock, Sherrie Blackburn and Robert Brown being sworn in as deputy chiefs of police.

In December 2018, Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner promoted Batis to deputy chief of technical following Roechner's appointment by the Joliet City Council to permanent chief of police after being appointed interim chief in August 2018.

Roechner's three other choices for deputy were: Marc Reid, John Perona and Darrell Gavin. Perona lasted less than seven months on the job before he opted to retire rather than face a demotion from the City Hall administration of Marty Shanahan.

Roechner eventually filled Perona's vacancy by promoting Joe Rosado to fill the opening.

This past January, Roechner agreed to accept a raise of more than $31,000,designed to spike his pension, in exchange for submitting his notice of retirement to outgoing city manager Jim Hock.

The following week, incoming city manager Jim Capparelli named Malec as his new chief. Within days of her promotion, Malec sent out a notice informing Gavin, Reid and Rosado that they were being demoted and would not remain as deputy chiefs under her tenure as the city's police chief.

Of Roechner's four deputy police chiefs, only Batis was allowed to remain in his position under Malec's new leadership team.

Batis served in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years from 1987 to 1993. He joined the Joliet Police force in 1997. During the past 24 years, Batis has held the rank of detective sergeant, detective lieutenant and watch commander of the operations division. He received his bachelor's in criminal justice from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1996 and is currently finishing up a master's of business administration at Benedictine University in Lisle, according to his LinkedIn profile.