Future Oswego Police Chief Proposes New Command Structure

Capt. Jeff Burgner (left) will become the new Oswego police chief on Nov. 27. Credit: File photo.

Village board members recently voiced support for future Oswego Police Chief Jeff Burgner’s proposal to revamp the police department’s command structure.

Burgner, who is currently a captain, will take over for Chief Dwight Baird, effective Nov. 27. Baird is running unopposed for Kendall County Sheriff and will take over that position in January 2015.

At at Sept. 16 Committee of the Whole meeting, Burgner proposed eliminating three captain positions and replacing them with two deputy chiefs, who would be appointed by the chief, according to the Ledger Sentinel.

Burgner’s proposal also called for a new commander position.

Currently, there are three captains in the Oswego police department: a field operations captain, support services captain and investigations captain. Burgner’s plan calls for one field operations deputy chief and one support services deputy chief.

According to the Ledger, Burgner is recommending that current Capts. Nicholas Sikora and Jim Jensen be appointed as the two deputy chiefs. He is proposing that they be sworn in at the Dec. 16 village board meeting, and that a sergeant be promoted to fill the commander position.

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