UPDATED: Lakewood police sergeant under internal investigation after a former cop alleged he made racist comments

A Lakewood police officer resigned last week, after saying a recently promoted sergeant in the department made racist comments.

Lakewood Village President Phil Stephan said the village started an investigation into the alleged comments but would not provide any more details when asked by a Northwest Herald reporter, including whether the sergeant would remain on the job during the investigation.

“We take that very seriously, and we started an investigation on Friday. And that's all I have to say about that,” Stephan said, adding that he was unable to comment further because it was a personnel matter.

In a resignation letter dated Dec. 4 obtained by the Northwest Herald, former Lakewood police officer Edgard Pluviose said he came to realize he’s “not welcome in this organization.”

“Although this decision was difficult for me to make, I felt compelled to move on from Lakewood Police based on the recent promotional process,” Pluviose wrote.

Pluviose alleged in his resignation letter that sergeant was recently heard making a racist comment on the scene of a call and again in front of an arrestee inside the police station. Pluviose did not specify what exactly was said.

“I do not feel comfortable working with him or having him as my supervisor,” Pluviose said. “Because the village of Lakewood is unable to create a fair and equal working environment, I have made the decision to leave.”

The sergeant was not able to be reached for comment. Pluviose also declined via email to comment further to the Northwest Herald, saying everything he needed to say was in the resignation letter and he did not have any additional information to provide at that time.

Pluviose wrote in his letter that the village of Lakewood is “anti-police,” adding that, "As a result, the working environment is hostile.”

Pluviose also alleged in the resignation letter that Stephan lied during the November Village Board meeting when he said no one expressed interest in filling a vacant supervisory position.

Pluviose said he sent an email on Nov. 3 to Chief Administrative Officer Jeannine Smith expressing his interest in the sergeant position, and Smith replied acknowledging this interest.

Smith could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but during a Lakewood Village Board meeting that evening, said she and another sergeant had a conversation with four of the night officers in the department, one who is retiring in February, two who weren’t interested in the position, and the officer who ended up promoted.

She said the appointed sergeant has 25 years of experience as police officer and a number of certifications.

“Officer Pluviose was interested in the position,” she said. “However, I had information that he had applied for a position elsewhere, and for a number of other reasons he wasn't a good fit for the position of sergeant in our organization.”

Lakewood resident Tom Allen, one of a few residents who expressed concerns about the circumstances surrounding Pluviose's resignation Tuesday evening, said the reasons Pluviose resigned should “make the hair stand up on the back your neck” and that he disagreed with Smith’s reasoning for not promoting him.

“Whether or not someone's got a resume out somewhere else doesn’t make them unsuitable candidate for promotion here,” Allen said. “Maybe if he had received a promotion, he would have stayed.”

Stephan said in an interview with the Northwest Herald that he did not know about Pluviose’s email of interest in the position.

“We started at the top of the seniority of our police officers, and when we got down to [the sergeant], he accepted the promotion,” Stephan said.

The sergeant has been on Lakewood's force for about four years.

“I personally wasn't involved in that appointment,” Stephan said.

While village presidents appoint police chiefs, they do not appoint sergeants, Stephan said. The police chief does, and without a police chief, the chain of command would defer to the chief administrative officer.

Earlier this year, former Lakewood Police Chief Todd Richardson was fired at a Village Board meeting after the reading of a report that alleged he harassed a village employee, made inappropriate comments and acted in an insubordinate manner.

This firing did not come without controversy, with several residents speaking out in support of the former police chief and saying the investigation into these complaints against Richardson was not done fairly.

Stephan said he is in the process of hiring a temporary police chief, who would serve for three months, through the Illinois Association of Chief of Police’s Linebacker program.

With this program, an interim or substitute chief of police, or “Linebacker,” is sent to fill a vacancy created by the unscheduled departure of a police department's chief on a short-term basis. The Illinois Association of Chief of Police will send municipal officials a portfolio of candidates to choose from who can then be interviewed.

At the end of Pluviose’s resignation letter, he said he was proud to have the police department acknowledged by the U.S. Marine Corps for their Toys for Tots campaign and to have brought Crystal Lake businesses in to help support Lakewood’s Easter Egg Hunt.

“To the rest of the officers at Lakewood PD, stay safe,” Pluviose said.