Police Chief Benton Plans To Step Down: O'Dekirk

JOLIET, IL - City officials have learned that Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton plans to retire in about three months. Benton notified other police department staff on Wednesday of his plans to leave the city in November, Patch was told. Benton has been chief since 2013 and he has worked for the Joliet Police Department since 1990.

Mayor Bob O'Dekirk told Joliet Patch that Benton apparently sent an email to other police officials, "but I haven't seen anything yet," the mayor remarked Thursday morning.

O'Dekirk went on to say, "I think Chief Benton did a good job running the police department during a very difficult and challenging period for law enforcement." (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive free daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Benton's leadership at the Joliet Police Department has been called into question on several occasions over the past year, including his handling of the case of Officer Nick Crowley. Crowley was charged with five crimes after allegedly firing his gun into the ceiling of the townhouse of his girlfriend, Joliet officer Cassie Socha, during an argument. After the incident, Benton put Crowley on indefinite paid leave and left him there for months, making no effort to fire him.

Ultimately, the mayor questioned Benton about the Crowley case during a city council meeting and took the lead at putting Crowley back to work in the city clerk's office until his case went to trial. Crowley was found not guilty of all the criminal offenses and has since been reinstated at the Joliet Police force, which gave him a 30-day unpaid suspension for the July 2017 ordeal.

After the not-guilty verdicts were rendered in May, Crowley's attorney Jeff Tomczak blamed Benton for the debacle involving Crowley.

"It begins with the chief," Tomczak said. "He's not guilty. There was no direct evidence (of any crime). All the evidence was that this was accidental."

Tomczak said at the time that the Joliet Police Department's administration and internal affairs unit needed an overhaul on how they handle allegations of criminal conduct involving their officers.

"This was an argument between two people that Joliet brass decided to make into a crime. It's time to bring in outside agencies … These guys all know each other, the brass investigates the front line guys. My understanding of the morale (is) the front line guys feel under attack, and that's got a change," Tomczak told Joliet Patch and other reporters inside the courthouse in late May.

The timing of Benton's announcement of his departure may not be a huge surprise to many city officials. This week, the Joliet City Council yanked off the agenda a resolution to fill the recent opening of the deputy police chief of administration. Tab Jensen had retired in late July.

However, the city is studying the restructuring of the police administration which has had four deputy chiefs during most of Benton's tenure as chief. Earlier this year, the city decided not to fill the deputy chief of technical services vacancy created when Brian Dupuis retired in January.

Patch earlier this week reported that another member of Benton's administration, deputy chief Ed Gregory, plans to retire in the next couple of months.

File image of Chief Brian Benton via city of Joliet