O’Dekirk accuses Joliet police chief, others of ‘bullying’ oversight board

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk on Monday accused the police chief and others of “bullying” the city’s police and fire board because of comments made regarding the time being taken to hold hearings on two fired police officers.

O’Dekirk made his comments as another month apparently will pass without a hearing for police officers Brian Nagra and Lionel Allen, who continue getting paid despite recommendations for firing in mid-January.

The mayor avoided using names, but it was clear he was talking about Nagra and Allen, who were the subjects of a lengthy discussion during the March meeting of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

Questions were raised then about the time being taken to hold hearings on the two officers.

O’Dekirk defended the board, calling criticism of it for not yet holding a hearing “unfair” and “improper.”

“I have to apologize to you for the attack,” O’Dekirk said.

The mayor also told the board he found it disturbing that “department members and department heads” were “bullying you into taking action.”

He called questions about the time taken to hold a hearing on the discharged officers “disingenuous” and said police command staff were directed after an inspector general investigation to fire one of the officers in July. O’Dekirk’s comments made clear he was talking about Nagra.

“The police command staff refused to follow that direction,” O’Dekirk said.

Current Police Chief Al Roechner was a deputy chief at the time. Brian Benton, who retired in August, was then chief, when, according to the mayor, command staff also would not put Nagra on administrative leave.

Roechner became interim chief after Benton’s departure and put Nagra on desk duty in September, which O’Dekirk noted in his remarks.

“I’ll give Roechner credit,” he said. “He took the step in September to finally put the officer on administrative leave.”

Roechner failed to respond to a call for comment.

Benton, however, said Inspector General Chris Regis never directed him to fire Nagra or place him on administrative leave, but only suggested that he could begin a disciplinary process.

At the time, however, then-City Manager David Hales was bringing in an outside firm to investigate the situation and the police department’s own Internal Affairs division was looking into the matter, he said.

Benton said he and Hales “agreed that the third party should be involved in the investigation just so the public could be assured that were acting without reproach.”

Roechner and Deputy Chief John Perona spoke at the March police board meeting at the direction of Chairman Herb Lande, who solicited comments from them about whether they were “shocked” to learn the board had not yet received charges against the two officers.

Both Roechner and Perona agreed they were shocked, saying they expected the hearings to at least begin within 30 days because of language in the board’s rules.

However, Regis, also the city inspector general who did the investigation that the mayor said led to the direction that Nagra be fired, said the 30-day rule does not begin until he brings the charges of dismissal to the board.

The discussion was spurred by an email from Sgt. Patrick Cardwell, who also heads the union for police supervisors, criticizing the board for the time being taken to hold hearings on the two officers while two of his members already had been disciplined in relation to one of the cases.

Nagra and Allen are in a separate union local of the Fraternal Order of Police that represents patrol officers.

Cardwell defended the email at the March meeting when he faced extensive questioning from Lande and other board members.