Sycamore police chief to retire

SYCAMORE – Whenever Sycamore Police Chief Jim Winters needs a pick-me-up while on the job as the city’s top cop, he looks out his second-floor office window inside the Police Department on DeKalb Avenue and searches for a three-legged dog named Luigi.

Winters, who announced recently his plans to retire in the spring, said Luigi’s owner walks the dog up and down the block regularly. One day as they passed, he ran outside to greet the owner and meet the dog. Seeing Luigi living fully despite life’s challenges always boosts Winters' spirits, he said.

Making connections is what Winters calls the core of good police work.

“I don’t consider myself to be an extrovert by any means but I do enjoy learning about people,” Winters said in his office during a recent interview with Shaw Local News Network.

He said he plans to remain in the Sycamore area with his wife, Lisa, who works as an instructional math coach for Sycamore School District 427. They’re nearly empty nesters, with three adult children: son Josh who works as an attorney; son Jake, also at District 427 as a fourth grade teacher, and daughter Emma pursuing a degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Winters said he’s ready to retire. He’ll be sticking around until about March while the City of Sycamore undertakes a nationwide search for his successor. The City has hired the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police to assist in the search.

Winters, who will begin his 37th year in law enforcement in 2025, said he told Sycamore City Manager Michael Hall in 2023 that he was planning to retire.

“I think there’s a time when we all know that, personally when you’re like ‘OK’ you’re ready personally to retire,” Winters said. “So I think not only personally am I ready but I think the department’s ready too which to me, that’s the big issue.”

Winters was first hired with Sycamore as a deputy chief in June 2016. He was promoted to chief in late 2017 after his predecessor Chief Glenn Theriault resigned. Theriault’s resignation came two months after an incident where an Elgin police officer, who Theriault knew, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and then released without charges after Theriault was alerted.

Though he’s lived in Sycamore since 1993, Winters came to the Sycamore Police Department after an already full career at Illinois State Police which began in 1989. He retired from ISP as a Lt. Col, having worked with policing agencies statewide. He planted roots in Sycamore while at ISP, and worked on a regional narcotics task force with colleagues from DeKalb and Northern Illinois University police and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

Since he’s taken up the chief mantle, Winters has overseen many evolutions of the department. Police added body cameras to their repertoire on Jan. 11, 2021. They installed license plate reader cameras at various intersections across the city. Squad car computers were upgraded. The department does electronic scheduling for their officers now instead of paper.

They’ve hired more officers. They’ve expanded partnerships with social workers and underwent 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training.

“We’re fully staffed right now, and we’ve got some great people working here,” Winters said. “The City Council, the community’s super supportive. So I think the next chief will be ready to take the department to the next level as far as what service we can provide, the public safety that is given to the citizens of Sycamore.”

City Manager Michael Hall told the City Council that he has been talking with the police chief on a transition plan for about a year.

A job posting for the next police chief is live and accepting applications until Jan. 3. Hall said the city hopes to have the search wrapped by Feb. 13, which also will allow Winters to work briefly with his replacement to ease the transition.

“And then we will have interviews, questionnaires the candidates will be filling out, each time narrowing down the selection process,” Hall said in a Dec 2 meeting. “We’re going to have an assessment center. The finalists will have final interviews with community leaders, law enforcement.”

When Winters set out to be chief, did he have goals in mind for his department and does he think he’s achieved them? He said yes, particularly as the department’s brought in new technology.

“At the end of the day technology is something that, it’s a great tool but you have to have good people,“ Winters said. ”Because police work at its core, it’s talking to people, decision making, problems solving and having relationships with people.”

Whether suspects, victims or witnesses, he said he believes his officers have the training and tools needed to adjust to calls as they come in.

Since Winters took over, Sycamore’s also grown in population. Sycamore’s grown by about 1,000, according to the 2020 census.

That population climb has spawned a number of changes in Sycamore over the past four years. Sycamore’s city ward maps were redrawn in 2022. Sycamore School District 427 underwent redistricting in 2023, redrawing the boundaries for all five of its elementary schools to better even out its growing student size.

The Sycamore Police Department added three more full-time officers under Winters' leadership. He said the city’s growth in population, schools and industry has been steady but manageable.

“Right now I think the department’s the right size for the community,” Winters said.

Would he do it all over again? Go back to 1989 but with all the knowledge he has now? Yes, Winters said. But first he’d buy some Apple stock, he said jokingly.

He said he was one of those people who knew when he was young what he wanted to do when he grew up. He credited cop television shows like “CHiPS” or “S.W.A.T.” as an influence, and some specific moments he recalled.

“Where I grew up there was an interstate by, and I remember seeing state troopers and I was always impressed by that,” Winters said. “Then I got hurt in a high school baseball game, and the local cop who was watching the game, he was like ‘Come on, I’ll give you a ride to the hospital.' And I had a conversation with him.”

As he got older, the adrenaline-rushing excitement of the job enticed him, too. He wanted to drive a fast car and chase people down the street.

“But also I felt like I wanted to be one of the good guys chasing one of the bad guys,” Winters said. “My appreciation for it has only grown in Sycamore.”