Joliet police officer gets job back

A Joliet police officer fired by former Chief Al Roechner will get his job back in the third case in the last six months in which the city manager’s office has significantly reduced discipline for an officer.

Officer David Blackmore will serve a 90-day suspension without pay but will be return to his duties, city officials said.

Blackmore was recommended for termination on Dec. 27, 2019, by Roechner.

Details of the matter have not been released.

Blackmore’s 90-day suspension is based on a charge of conduct unbecoming an officer, City Attorney Sabrina Spano said. The suspension is based on the same “offenses and facts” that were the basis of his termination, she said.

Blackmore was put on administrative leave at the time, pending appeal of the discipline, and continued to receive regular pay while off-duty. The appeal was resolved last week.

The termination of a police officer must be upheld by the city’s Board of Fire and Police Commissioners before it becomes final.

The suspension is not immediate, Spano said. Blackmore has until March 2022 to serve the suspension.

City Manager James Capparelli said he decided to reduce the discipline after negotiations that included the Fraterenal Order of Police, which is the union that represents police officers, and the city legal staff.

New Police Chief Dawn Malec and her administration were not involved in settling the matter, Capparelli said.

“We had a negotiation with the union, and it was a settlement,” Capparelli said.

An appeal of police discipline “goes from the chief to me or to the police and fire board, and it can be resolved at any point in that process,” he said.

Capparelli, who was hired in January, said he could not account for why the matter was not resolved sometime in 2020.

In 2020, interim City Manager Jim Hock reduced two police suspensions to written reprimands.

One involved Joe Clement, a retired police officer now running for Joliet City Council.

Clement had been suspended for 25 days after an incident in 2019 when he allegedly joined Mayor Bob O’Dekirk in accusing a police officer working security at a street festival of being drunk. The officer took blood and urine tests that night to prove his sobriety, according to a Rochener report of the incident.

Hock reduced Clement’s discipline to a written reprimand at a time that his appeal otherwise could have gone to a public hearing before the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. At the time, Clement was circulating petitions to run for city council.

Hock also reduced a 12-day suspension for Officer John Perri to a written reprimand.

Reporter Felix Sarver contributed to this story.