Let's Put Joe Clement's 25-Day Suspension Into Perspective

JOLIET, IL — These days, people around Joliet and elsewhere are paying more attention to the Joliet Police Department because the agency remains in a state of dysfunction. It's the only department in city government having these problems, week in and week out.

Joliet's Fire Department doesn't have the same kind of constant infighting. The Joliet Public Works Division also doesn't have the same internal backstabbing. The day-to-day employees inside City Hall manage to coexist on both floors of the building.

These days, there's a lot of mistrust brewing within the Joliet Police Department. On one side is Chief Al Roechner and some — but not all — members of the Joliet Police Supervisors Association. Two of the most vocal members of the supervisors union are Sgt. Pat Cardwell and Sgt. Lindsey Heavener. Heavener will be retiring in another week.

The upper administration is suspected of using its Internal Affairs unit to punish their enemies within the rest of the police department and, in effect, send them a chilling message to stay in line or else.

There's also a belief that Roechner's cronies are exempt from discipline when they mess up.

Case in point is the April 22, 2018 incident involving off-duty Joliet Police Lt. Jeremy Harrison.

He crashed his Chevy Trailblazer into a parked car in a Shorewood subdivision around 1 a.m. on a weekend and kept on driving, reports show. An eyewitness to the hit-and-run called 911 and alerted authorities that the suspected intoxicated motorist switched drivers with his passenger, and eventually pulled into a driveway about eight blocks away and went into the house.

Another member of Cardwell's supervisors union, Sgt. Darren Prochaska, responded to Harrison's house and remained on the Shorewood call for about 90 minutes. Prochaska did not write a report about his activities, and no criminal charges resulted for Harrison. How did the Joliet Police Department Internal Affairs unit handle the case?

By sweeping it under the rug.

Lt. Harrison's off-duty conduct did not result in a demotion. It didn't result in a work suspension. It didn't result in a written reprimand or even an oral reprimand.

At the time of the incident, Lt. Marc Reid ran the Joliet Police Internal Affairs unit. Brian Benton was chief and Al Roechner was deputy chief of criminal investigations.

Nowadays, Roechner is chief, Reid is one of the three remaining deputy chiefs and Internal Affairs is led by Lt. Joe Rosado and Sgt. James Rouse.

Since Roechner became chief in August 2018, one of the harshest cases of discipline went against veteran Joliet Patrol Officer Rich Olson for a Nov. 1, 2018 incident, Patch learned.

"While off-duty, you initiated a traffic stop by activating your police squad's emergency lights which led to a vehicle pursuit," Olson's internal affairs memo reflects. "You failed to notify the Communications Center of the pursuit. You continued to pursue the vehicle, which led to the suspect's vehicle being involved in an accident.

"You failed to render aid to victims at the scene of the accident or summon for emergency personnel to the scene. You left the scene of the accident without notifying on-duty personnel, you failed to complete an offense report documenting your actions, and you failed to complete a vehicle pursuit driving form. You failed to perform your duties as a Joliet Police officer and your conducting was unbecoming of a Joliet Police Officer. The complaint was found to be sustained," Roechner advised Olson.

On Jan. 23, 2019, Olson agreed to serve a 24-work day suspension without pay, which amounts to 192 hours of lost wages.

Now, Roechner wants to impose an even more drastic punishment against Joliet Police Detective Joe Clement, who happens to be regarded as one of the city's most respected officers. Clement has had an exemplary personnel file during his 27 years of service with Joliet.

Clement also happens to be an elected official on Joliet's Park District Board. He has intentions of retiring from the police department later this year and running for an at-large seat on the Joliet City Council in next year's city races.

Clement was at the September Fiesta en la Calle in downtown Joliet and he apparently corroborated Mayor Bob O'Dekirk's version of events, suggesting that one of Roechner's close friends, Sgt. Lindsey Heavener, was consuming alcohol from a red plastic cup while on duty at the festival's tequila bar.

On the night of the festival, the chief waited about eight or nine hours before taking action. The chief rode with Heavener to a local hospital and then issued a subsequent report indicating that Heavener's blood-alcohol concentration was negative as a result of a blood draw and urine screen. Then, the chief wrote up an internal affairs document and had it subsequently leaked to The Herald-News.

Joe Hosey's article contained the following account, "During the ensuing internal affairs investigation, Clement, who is also a member of the Joliet Park District Board, stated that he saw Heavener 'with two tequila drinks in a red cup. He was drunk and slurring his words,'" Roechner's memo stated.

Roechner and his administration chose to remove Clement from his detective assignment of 11 years working inside the mayor's office as the deputy liquor commissioner.

On Oct. 9, Clement received a memo from Joliet Police Sgt. James Rouse of Internal Affairs. The memo informed Clement that "while the administrative investigation into your alleged improper conduct is being conducted, you are ordered to not be in the Mayor's (office) or the liquor commissioner's office located at City Hall. You are further ordered to immediately contact Deputy Chief Gavin in reference to your assignment."

The letter cautioned Clement that this order will remain in effect until "rescinded in writing by this department or other competent authority."

Then, on Jan. 3, Roechner sent out a memo to the entire department so everyone knew Clement was getting a five-week unpaid suspension as a result of the Mexican festival fallout.

This marked Clement's first discipline of any kind in at least decade. But with Clement on the verge of retirement and running for a Joliet City Council at-large seat, Roechner may have seen this as a chance for a political payback.

Given that Clement is friends with O'Dekirk only stoked the flames of contempt.

"On September 16, 2019, you misrepresented facts in reference to an internal investigation," Roechner wrote Clement on Dec. 27.

In late October, O'Dekirk wrote an email to interim city manager Steve Jones. The mayor was livid that Roechner yanked Clement out of his long-time assignment in the mayor's office, which went back to the days of Art Schultz being mayor.

"The removal of Detective Clement from my office has created significant problems in my office's ability to process liquor license applications and maintain order throughout the Joliet liquor community," O'Dekirk wrote Jones. "I have previously requested to know when Detective Joe Clement will be returned, but instead received correspondence that Chief Al Roechner independently has begun the process of choosing who will work in my office.

"As I have stated earlier, this is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Furthermore, it is outrageous that a Joliet Police Department Head would engage in blatant retaliation against a city employee based upon that employee's refusal to lie when asked to do so."

Patch has since learned that Clement has been reassigned to street patrol, where he will likely close out his career in the coming months.

Looking ahead, Clement should have a chance to clear the air by pleading his case to the Joliet Police and Fire Board in hopes of avoiding a 200-hour work place suspension.

Where does Clement's proposed 200-hour discipline rank compared to other 2019 cases?

On May 13, Roechner gave Joliet Police Officer Bill Busse a one day, eight-hour suspension without pay because on March 3 "you struck your girlfriend ... with your fist and grabbed her arms. The complaint has been investigated and on the basis of available evidence has been found to be sustained in part and not sustained in part."

Since then, Busse, 36, of Homer Glen, has been arrested on two different times by New Lenox police officers in connection with domestic battery charges. Busse has been charged with attacking his ex-wife at her house in New Lenox on Dec. 29. He was also arrested on May 31 and charged with attacking her on that occasion as well.

So far, Roechner's internal affairs unit has yet to impose any discipline against Busse in connection with his pair of domestic violence arrests, which both came after Busse served his one-day suspension for hitting his girlfriend in March.

It's no wonder why so many people who read the Joliet Patch are coming up to me around downtown Joliet, shaking their heads and suggesting to me that the Joliet Police Department seems like a three-ring circus these days, with all the non-stop drama and internal turmoil.

I tend to agree with them.

And for the purposes of this column, I would add one more caveat. If the Joliet Police Department is indeed a three-ring circus, then Al Roechner is the ring master.