Joliet lifts hold on police promotions

Seven Joliet police officers were promoted on Thursday breaking through what City Manager James Capparelli said would be a hold on promotions to keep more officers on the street until the promotion process could be reviewed.

The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners approved the promotions for two new lieutenants and five new sergeants.

Capparelli in February said he wanted to keep more patrol officers on the streets. He said he might bring in a consultant to review the Joliet Police Department staffing and promotion process.

The head of the police supervisors union in February contended that promotions had been stalled because the union had endorsed Terry D’Arcy in his bid to replace Mayor Bob O’Dekirk.

The promotions were approved two days after D’Arcy won the election. The special meeting of the board and its agenda was announced last week ahead of the Tuesday election.

Capparelli earlier this week said he still plans bring in a consultant to conduct a study, although he has yet to do so.

“We’re continuing to review manning and how the police department is organized,” Capparelli said when asked about the promotions put on the police board’s agenda.

Capparelli said he agreed to the proposed promotions after hearing a case made by the police department.

“We had a discussion about it,” he said. “They presented their case. I said OK.”

Police Chief William Evans said after the board meeting that the sergeants and lieutenants were needed to support patrol officers and other units working city streets.

“We have to make sure we have supervisors on the street and in our specialized units, so we decided to move ahead with the promotions to sergeant and lieutenant,” Evans said.

Two promotions tabled by the board in December moved ahead on Tuesday. Sgt. Julie Larson was promoted to lieutenant and Officer Robert Mau Jr. was promoted to sergeant.

Five more promotions were put on the agenda, and all were approved by the board.

Sgt. Christopher Moore was promoted to lieutenant.

Officers David Gillespie, William Otis, Shaunza Mitchell and Nicholas Giordano were promoted to sergeant.