Oswego welcomes new deputy police chief

The reorganization of the Oswego Police Department continues after the recent retirements of Oswego Police Chief Jeff Burgner and Oswego Deputy Police Chief Kevin Norwood.

During the June 27 Oswego Village Board meeting, Oswego police Cmdr. Chris Biggs was sworn in as the new deputy police chief of field operations, succeeding Norwood, who had held the position until his recent retirement from the department.

Jason Bastin, who had been deputy chief of support services, recently was named interim police chief. Burgner retired from the department in June after 27 years of service to the village, serving as police chief since 2014.

“Chris was here about nine months ago being sworn in as a commander,” Bastin said during the meeting. “He’s back tonight to be sworn in as our newest deputy chief. I’m very happy to have Chris on our command team. Chris is one of the most emotionally intelligent people I’ve ever met and that is vital in our line of work, especially in taking on a leadership role. Adding Chris to our team and to have him at the deputy chief level overseeing the field operations division is fantastic and a great thing for this village.”

Biggs has been with the department for 25 years. In addition, Andrew Most was sworn in as the department’s new sergeant. He has been with the department for 10 years and most recently served as the school resource officer at Oswego East High School.

Also at the meeting, Timothy Blake Jr. and Matthew Gedraitis were sworn in as the department’s newest patrol officers.

The village plans to name a new police chief in the coming months.