New Lenox Police Department Adds 3 New Officers

NEW LENOX, IL - As the year winds down, the New Lenox Police Department has announced the additions of three new police officers to the village's force. The three new hires are David Nykiel, Kaitlyn Ray and Jacob Klepk. All three are new to the police profession, according to Deputy Chief of Police Louis Alessandrini. He said that New Lenox Police Department is pleased that the three have accepted job offers to join the police force. "We're excited to have them. We're looking forward to having them and wishing them the best with their career," Alessandrini told New Lenox Patch on Monday afternoon.

Here's a short bio on the three new officers who will be joining New Lenox Police in January.

Kaitlyn Ray, 25, from New Lenox. Graduated from Lincoln-Way West High School in 2011. Ray got her bachelor's in social justice from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, where she also played on the basketball team where she made the all-conference team as a guard. In 2015, Ray also had an internship with the New Lenox Police Department.

Jacob Klepk, 23, graduated from Western Illinois University in 2016 with a bachelor's in law enforcement. Klepk is from Morris and he graduated from Seneca High School.

David Nykiel, 31, is from Tinley Park. He graduated from Northern Illinois University in 2008 with a bachelor's in criminology and history and obtained his master's in secondary education in 2012 from Lewis University. Nykiel graduated from Andrew High School in 2004.

Added Alessandrini: "We're just excited to get our numbers back up and have these good officers."

The new hires bring New Lenox up to about 35 police officers.

The village is still in the process of adding a few more officers, including one or two who may be coming from other Illinois police departments.

"We're still working on the other three officers," Alessandrini said.

He remains hopeful New Lenox can finalize the other hires before the year is done.

Images via New Lenox Police Department, main image from left to right: Officer Kaitlyn Ray, Officer Jacob Klepk and Officer David Nykiel.