Joliet Police Chief Malec no longer interim

Joliet Police Chief Dawn Malec is no longer an interim chief.

City Manager James Capparelli announced at the Tuesday meeting of the City Council that he has given the job to Malec on a permanent basis.

The announcement was made without ceremony at the end of Capparelli’s city manager report to the council near the end of the meeting.

“We’re going to make Dawn the permanent chief for the city of Joliet,” Capparelli said, adding that Malec could not be at the meeting because she was ill.

The transition to permanent chief cements Malec’s place as the first woman police chief for Joliet.

It comes little more than a month after Malec’s appointment as interim chief and was expected.

Capparelli named Malec interim chief in his first day on the job as city manager on Jan. 11.

All indications from the beginning were that the job was Malec’s.

At the time, Capparelli said the job would be Malec’s if she wanted it. In her first week, Malec replaced three of the four-member police command staff. And, Capparelli never sought resumes for the police chief job.

Malec replaced former Police Chief Al Roechner, who put in his retirement notice hours before Capparelli was hired and never came back to work. Roechner’s departure also was expected with Malec considered a likely replacement once Capparelli was made city manager.