Jason Leverton named new DeKalb police deputy chief

DeKALB – After two years of the DeKalb police deputy chief position being vacant, the city’s police department named a former commander the department’s new deputy chief this week.

According to a Thursday news release from DeKalb Police Department, Jason Leverton was promoted to deputy chief from commander within the city’s department, effective Sunday.

“I’m very pleased and humbled to have been selected,” Leverton told the Daily Chronicle on Thursday. “And [I’m] just really look forward to serving in this capacity.”

DeKalb police officials wrote in the release the deputy chief position has been vacant since 2019.

Leverton started his career with the DeKalb Police Department in April 1996 as a patrol officer and was promoted to corporal in 2000. He was then promoted to patrol sergeant in 2001, serving as a patrol shift commander and completed the Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff & Command during that time.

Leverton was then promoted to lieutenant in 2012, where he supervised the investigations division, initiated the Targeted Response Unit, and served as the construction liaison in the building of the new police station. He was then promoted in 2013 to commander of the community support services bureau, where he managed the department’s 911 communications center and helped initiate programs including the embedded social worker program.

Leverton said one of the biggest changes to his duties will include overseeing all four of the department’s divisions, which he has working experience in.

“So that does help a lot,” Leverton said. “So there isn’t a lot that’s totally foreign to me by any means.”

The DeKalb Police Department is undergoing a restructuring, announced amid a 2020 nationwide reckoning of policing following the murder of George Floyd. The restructure added a new division called the community support services division. There also is a patrol division, investigations and records.

Leverton said he would like to see newer department programs, including the social worker and other community outreach programs, continue.

There have been four confirmed shootings in DeKalb this month, including a fatal shooting Oct. 3 when 21-year-old Caeleb Dunlap-Milam of DeKalb was shot to death. The man accused of his murder is being held in DeKalb County Jail on $5 million bond. Two more shootings on Oct. 15 and Oct. 17 left people injured. And a recent arson damaged the outdoor deck at Hometown Bar & Grill downtown.

[ $5M bond set for man charged with murder in recent DeKalb shooting ]

“We’re facing a pretty significant crime issue within the city,” Leverton said. “So [I’m] looking forward to having conversations for strategies to combat some of the more violent crime episodes that we’ve had.”

Leverton said he is “personally very proud to be a member of the community” as a DeKalb resident with a master’s degree from Northern Illinois University.

“I really do call DeKalb and NIU home,” Leverton said. “And I’m just happy to serve the residents and try to make DeKalb a better place.”

DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd said since he assumed the police chief role five months ago, he’s taken time to to evaluate the current structure of the police department.

“It was really opportunity for me to get to know everybody,” Byrd said.

Byrd said he believes Leverton brings his experience in law enforcement and overall professionalism to the deputy chief position.

“He’s hardworking and he’s very knowledgeable about the department itself,” Byrd said.

Additional departmental leadership changes occured this month for several other DeKalb police command staff.

Chad McNett also was promoted from patrol sergeant to patrol commander, effective Sunday, according to the release.

McNett started with the DeKalb Police Department in October 1995 as a patrol officer and promoted to patrol sergeant in 2016, according to the news release. McNett also was named the department’s first community relations officer in 2013 and has been active in several community events, including Special Olympics, Heroes and Helpers, DeKalb County Triad and No Shave November, police officials wrote in the release.

Byrd said McNett also is experienced and brings integrity and “a strong work ethic” to the department.

“He’s very in tune with the community and very active in the community,” Byrd said. " … He’s going to be a wealth of knowledge to the patrol division.”

DeKalb Police Cmdr. Steve Lekkas “will assume control and command over the Community Support Services Division,” according to an Oct. 12 police departmental email obtained by the Daily Chronicle. Byrd thanked Lekkas “for his leadership and professionalism as the DeKalb Police Department Patrol Commander” in the email.

“I look forward to the continued leadership and professionalism as he assumes command over the Community Support Services Division,” Byrd wrote in the Oct. 12 email.

In the departmental email, Byrd also thanked DeKalb Police Cmdr. Bob Redel for serving in the acting deputy chief role while also commanding the investigative division. Redel also served as acting police chief for the department since June 2020, up until Byrd became police chief in May 2021.

Former Police Chief Gene Lowery retired in May 2019. Deputy Police Chief John Petragallo stepped in as interim chief but left the department in June 2020, retiring to pursue a career change.

“This was a heavy lift for Commander Redel, and he performed his duties with the utmost professionalism and integrity,” Byrd wrote in the Oct. 12 email. “I can’t thank him enough for assisting me as I became educated with the policies and procedures of the DeKalb Police Department.”

Byrd said formal pinning ceremonies for the promotions are expected to be scheduled in early November.