Spring Valley to pursue new police officer after May 2 resignation

Following the resignation of a police officer on May 2, the Spring Valley Police Department received approval from the City Council to seek a full-time replacement.

Spring Valley Police Chief Adam Curran said during Monday’s meeting the departing officer chose to resign because of personal reasons.

“Low and behold, we were able to get to full staff and then we have someone resign, so we have to fill that spot,” Curran said.

Curran said training will begin Aug. 30 at Southwestern Illinois College near Belleville for a next class of officers. He also mentioned the demand for many officers is backlogged until 2023.

“To be able to get into this August class is pretty good,” Curran said.

Curran said the city of DePue is in the process of hiring the officer who resigned from the Spring Valley Police Department and it has reached out in attempts to purchase the ballistics vest that belonged to the officer.

Curran mentioned the vest was personally fitted to the individual and was bought on a grant with 50% of the cost coming from the city of Spring Valley.

Following Curran’s recommendation, the city voted to allow DePue to buy the ballistic vest in the amount of $437.50, the same amount charged to Spring Valley.

“It’ll be like we never purchased the vest,” Curran said.

Because of the officer’s less-than-two-years of service with Spring Valley, the council questioned if it would be able to seek reimbursement for the officer’s training expenses.

Under the city attorney’s advice, Spring Valley can elect to pursue reimbursement if the council so chooses.

The council made no decision on this proposal and chose to table the discussion for an executive session at a later date.