Sterling native named Erie’s new chief of police

ERIE – Erie officer and Sterling native Brian Hawk is the new village chief of police.

Hawk, 39, has been on the Erie Police Department more than five years and was named interim chief after Rollie Elder left in October to join the Rock Falls police force.

Before being hired in Erie, Hawk was a U.S. Navy rescue swimmer and a paramedic. He served in Iraq and was stationed in Pensacola, San Diego, and Guam.

After the Navy, he and his wife, Courtney, an Erie native, and their children lived in Los Angeles for about six years. They decided to move back home and be closer to family after he broke his leg in a motorcycle crash and had to undergo surgery.

“I always wanted to live in a farmhouse,” Hawk said.

As a child, he spent countless weekends at his grandparents’ farm in Fenton, fondly recalling “lots of visits to the Pink Pony.”

The Hawks bought the family farmstead from his grandparents in 2010, allowing him to keep the home built by his great-great-grandfather in the mid-1800s on land settled by his great-great-great grandfather.

Before joining the Erie Police Department in 2016, Hawk was the charge medic at Genesis Health, where he handled day-to-day operations for 16 ambulances in five counties and two states.

He also was a paramedic and Fenton first responder, giving him ample experience for the needs of a small town.

He was recruited to Erie PD by former Chief William Lukehart. “It was a great opportunity for me to be closer to my wife, kids, and grandparents (before they died),” he said. “Erie is a good community.”

Trustees voted Dec. 14 to promote him, 4-2.

Hawk said he looks forward to continuing community policing, which his predecessor started in this village of about 1,600 as a way to build trust and communication between officers and residents.

“Having an iron fist is not effective in a small town,” Hawk said.

Community policing is “getting people on the right path and addressing underlying issues” such as mental health, poverty, and drug and alcohol abuse, he said, noting that the Erie officers are in constant training and taking courses for additional certification.

“We’re doing our best,” he said of the small but dedicated crew. “And I’m in it for the long run.”

The Erie Police Department also consists of Jessica Adams, the full-time school resource officer, and part-timers Jake Jordan, also a Whiteside County sheriff’s deputy, TJ Spencer, also on the Prophetstown Police Department, and Boyd VanDellen, a retired sheriff’s deputy.

Hawk hopes to hire another full-time officer or two. Although not always at the station, the officers are on call 24/7.

He and Courtney have been married 20 years; she’s and a paraprofessional at Erie Elementary School and they have a daughter, Cadance, a senior at Erie High, and son, Holden, a seventh-grader.