O'Dekirk: Police Chief Al Roechner 'Under Investigation'

JOLIET, IL — Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk announced at Monday night's pre-council meeting that he believes a political attack was orchestrated against him, Councilwoman Jan Quillman and Joliet Police Detective Joe Clement, and O'Dekirk wanted everyone to know that Police Chief Al Roechner is currently under investigation.

Patch has previously reported that several city officials say the Joliet Police Department has been in disarray since Roechner was appointed as the city's permanent chief of police last December. One of Roechner's deputy chiefs, John Perona, chose to retire this summer rather than accept a demotion back to sergeant, as was recommended by then-interim city manager Marty Shanahan.

Not everybody was happy about City Hall's efforts to shakeup the police administration.

Patch has previously reported that Sgt. Lindsey Heavener and four sergeant members of the Joliet Police Supervisors Association, a group closely aligned with Roechner, worked with the Joliet City Council's Mudron 5 to oust Shanahan as interim city manager in June.

The Mudron 5 consists of Pat Mudron, Mike Turk, Don "Duck" Dickinson, Bettye Gavin and newcomer Sheri Reardon, who wanted to raise the city of Joliet's fuel tax on residents.

On Monday night, O'Dekirk referenced an internal affairs memo he says was authored by Roechner's administration to make himself, Quillman and Clement look bad. The memo was furnished to The Herald-News to produce a story prior to Monday's meeting, the mayor suggested.

"I got a call from the editor of the Herald-News earlier today, and I saw a report in the paper just prior to coming up tonight regarding a leaked report from the city, which is a political attack against me. Councilman Quillman, I did not read the whole story, but I know this is a political attack against you. It's also a political attack against one of our finest officers, Officer Joe Clement.

"(City manager) Steve (Jones), this is a report that has not be shown to me or the City Council. I believe was in the hands of five or six individuals, within city government, these are senior staff people, that had this report, correct?" Joliet's mayor inquired.

"Correct," Jones confirmed.

"OK. So, unfortunately, it's been leaked to The Herald-News," the mayor commented Monday night. "I will say there is an ongoing investigation, which includes, unfortunately, our chief of police, who's under investigation. This is something that shouldn't be announced publicly but I think it needs to be, because of the leak.

"I will say that I did nothing wrong on the evening in question and I'd be happy to answer any questions once this investigation is completed. I will also say from my review of what I have seen, Councilwoman Quillman, I think you've been the victim of criminal conduct and I think I may have been also. So ... it's unfortunate that this happened. I think it's an embarrassment to the entire City Council and the hard-working city staff, that this took place.

"But we are going to get to the bottom of this. And I look forward to the day when myself, or you councilwoman (Quillman) can speak publicly about what happened and what did not happen on the night in question."

It's worth pointing out that Quillman's name is not mentioned in the print newspaper's article.

The Herald-News article published shortly before the start of Monday night's pre-council meeting was headlined, "Sobering Allegation: Documents Show Joliet Mayor Made False Claim About Police Officer."

The article surrounds the behavior of Sgt. Lindsey Heavener, who was one of the key Joliet police officials intimately involved in June's push, led by Sgt. Patrick Cardwell and their Police Supervisors Association, to oust Marty Shanahan as city manager.

Among other things, the police supervisors did not want Shanahan to implement a shakeup of the police administration and they did not want Shanahan to hold the supervisors accountable for violating their written contracts in terms of their excessive nest eggs of unused vacation and comp time, a discrete way for several Joliet police officials to secure bloated retirement severance payouts at the time of their departure, in addition to their pensions.

The mayor told Patch that several people contacted him on the day of the Mexican fiesta, including at least one Joliet Police officer, concerning Heavener being on duty at the fiesta and possibly consuming alcohol from a plastic red cup at the tequila bar set up in downtown Joliet across from the Rialto.

The internal affairs document, authored by Roechner's administration, was subsequently leaked to The Herald-News, to give its readers the impression that Heavener's blood-alcohol concentration test was negative, according to the mayor.

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. I feel so bad. I had to tell the truth. I am not going to lie, and I almost puked today," Roechner's memo stated.

The article stated that Joliet's mayor accused Sgt. Heavener of being "drunk as a skunk" while on duty at the Sept. 14 Fiesta en la Calle, leading the sergeant to take blood and urine tests that showed no drugs or alcohol in his system," Roechner stated in his memo given to Hosey.

O'Dekirk told Patch that he first reported his suspicions about Heavener's behavior to Roechner around 4 p.m. that Saturday afternoon.

However, Heavener was not tested for alcohol consumption by the Joliet Police Department until 9 1/2 to 10 hours later, the mayor said.

O'Dekirk told Joliet Patch on Monday night that "I observed what I believed to be improper conduct and I notified the chief of police twice."

O'Dekirk also told Patch he was already planning to address the community and full city council at Tuesday night's regular 6:30 p.m. meeting regarding Chief Roechner prior to Monday night's article, and that will still happen.

Joliet's mayor also said he plans to address a number of false rumors that a handful of the members of the Joliet Police Department's Supervisors Association have spread about him, Marty Shanahan and Joliet Police FOP Council President Mike Devito, at Tuesday's public meeting at City Hall, which begins at 6:30 p.m.