Joliet inspector general sues Illinois State Police for investigation records

Even though the Joliet inspector general has concluded that there was an alleged conspiracy against the Joliet mayor, he still is seeking all records from Illinois State Police on their own investigation into the incident.

On Tuesday, Inspector General Sean Connolly filed a complaint against Illinois State Police for records regarding their investigation of Mayor Bob O’Dekirk and former council member Don “Duck” Dickinson over allegations of blackmail against O’Dekirk.

Connolly argued that state police wrongfully refused to comply with his subpoena for those records.

His complaint asks a Will County judge to enter an order directing state police to comply with his subpoena by “producing copies of all subpoenaed materials to the [inspector general] within seven days.”

Connolly had sent a subpoena dated Feb. 7 to state police that asked them to produce all arrest reports, supplemental reports, street files, investigator notes, emails from witnesses, memos, photographs, recorded interviews and video and audio recordings.

In a Feb. 16 letter, state police officials told Connolly that they “can find no statutory authority for which the subpoena commands ISP’s compliance.”

State police then treated Connolly’s subpoena like a Freedom of Information Act request, which any citizen can file. They sent Connolly a PDF to that contained redacted records.

Connolly’s complaint said state police have “failed to reference any statute or authority expressly limiting Joliet’s home rule authority to grant the [inspector general] the power to issue subpoenas.”

“This is a Joliet matter, not a state or federal matter,” according to Connolly’s complaint.

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In a report dated March 1, Connolly concluded that there was an alleged conspiracy by retired Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner and others to pressure Dickinson into filing a false police report against O’Dekirk.

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At Monday’s special City Council meeting, council member Joe Clement said he read Connolly’s report and he felt there was missing information.

“That was my second question, if you felt there’s more information coming,” Clement said.

“I absolutely do think that there’s more information,” Connolly said.