Mayor: 'There Has Been Nonstop Chaos On The Police Department'

JOLIET, IL — Violent crime in the city of Joliet remains on the rise. Drug overdose deaths are also continuing to increase. But the Joliet Police Department, under the leadership of Police Chief Al Roechner, remains in a state of chaos, according to Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk.

At Tuesday night's meeting, Joliet's mayor informed everyone that he is in the process of setting up a task force to address the violent crime and drug overdose deaths that continue to plague the state's third largest city.

Last March, "we had a horrible homicide at one of our casinos where a senior citizen was followed up to his room and murdered in the hallway and robbed and it was by a homeless individual that was not from Joliet. He was from the city of Chicago, but he was staying in Joliet,"O'Dekirk told everyone.

O'Dekirk reminded the council he had talked about forming a task force to address the city's homeless population, and he worked a little bit with the Joliet Police Department on the issue, "but not much and shortly thereafter, everything came off the rails up here on the City Council."

Therefore, the mayor acknowledged, he never put together his task force to address the homeless population as he envisioned.

Now, in the spirit of a new year and a new start, "I am going to put together a new task force. It's going to be local business owners and local citizens. We are going to address the violence that's occurring inside the city of Joliet," O'Dekirk vowed.

"Seven people in our city were shot on Christmas Eve. That taps off a horrible year, and it's intolerable and not one person on this council should be tolerating what's happening in our city and in our neighborhoods," the mayor declared. "There has been nonstop chaos on the police department. The crime, the homicides, the overdoses, unprecedented amounts of overdoses in the last year, and the homeless.

"So, I am going to put together a committee."

The mayor said he will have a list of people to serve on the task force in time for the next city council meeting on Jan. 21.

"This committee is going to meet, and we're going to make recommendations back to the city council. And I would hope that this time, whatever those recommendations are, that the council's going to listen. We cannot allow another year to happen like what happened in 2019," O'Dekirk ended his remarks by saying.

"I am so glad you said that," Councilwoman Bettye Gavin spoke up.

Roechner was promoted to chief of police by now-ousted city manager David Hales in August 2018. He replaced Brian Benton, who served as chief about five years. After spending his entire police career in Joliet, Benton gave his retirement notice at age 49 after a rough final year in the job. Roechner now has about 29 years experience at the Joliet Police Department, but several city officials have told Patch that the police department has been in a state of constant disarray under Roechner's leadership as chief.

In December, Roechner spent a good portion of his time at work making "Alf on the Shelf" videos for the Joliet Police Department's Facebook page.

Here's a sampling of recent Joliet Patch articles about Joliet Police:

Roechner Suspends Detective Joe Clement For 5 Weeks

Joliet FOP Fed Up With Chief Roechner, Letter Shows

JPD Lt. Harrison's Hit And Run Crash: No Reports, No Discipline

5 Charges Filed In Deadly Sidewalk Shooting Near Cathedral

Joliet Police Officer Bill Busse No Longer in County Jail

Detective Dave Jackson Sues Police Chief For Racial Discrimination