Streator’s first female police officer since 1990s sworn in

When Streator Police Chief John Franklin started in September 2022, he said one of his goals was to diversify the force to be more reflective of the community.

Monday was another step in that direction for the Streator Police Department.

Streator resident Paige Talty was sworn-in to become the first female police officer on the city’s department since the 1990s. Talty will conduct some training in Streator this month, before attending the training academy in Dixon in early May.

“I think it’s important for the department to be a reflection of the residents who live in it,” Franklin said. “We’re excited and we hope it entices young women in Streator that the police department can be a career path for them as well.”

Talty will join Dimetri Phillips, who was sworn in Dec. 5, and Cipriano Lopez, who graduated the academy in August, and Josh Thompson, who graduated the academy in December as recent hires. Phillips is African American-Hispanic and Lopez is Hispanic, adding not only diversity, but also youth to the department, Franklin said.

“We’re just as excited to have some younger people who want to serve their community,” Franklin said.

Talty said she was inspired to join the police department after she helped authorities while working at what’s now Runnings agricultural retail store with a retail theft case.

“I’ve always wanted to be a cop, working with them one-on-one and seeing it, led me to make the leap,” Talty said.

Along with swearing in Talty, the Streator Police Department promoted investigator Ryne Reel to sergeant. A recent retirement occurred, opening up that position, Franklin said. Reel, who has been a Streator officer for 13 years, said he’s going to be doing a lot of the same work, but is excited to continue to move up the ranks.

“It’s a reflection on all the work I’ve done to prepare me and the experiences to back it up,” Reel said. “It prepares me for the future with this department.”