PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria Park District has begun a search for its next Chief of Police.
Longtime Chief Sylvester Bush has retired, leaving the PPD with no full-time officers.
Thus, Executive Director Emily Cahill said, it has taken a village to pick up the slack.
“We have multiple part-time officers working shifts, we have security staff who aren’t commissioned officers but who are located in some of our facilities so they help to be eyes in ears to make sure our facilities are safe and welcoming,” she said.
“Beyond that, we have a great relationship with the city and county. The city has always been our dispatch that handles our record keeping, and that’s an agreement that, itself, is actually typed on carbon paper.
“We’ve actually been able to work with the city to have one of their sergeants come onboard so we just keep going without missing a beat,” she said.
Cahill said the next chief will ideally be local.
“People nationally might see [the job posting], but our target really is to bring someone in regionally. We’d love to have someone who’s familiar with Peoria and has significant experience when it comes to community policing and building relationships with our patrons and users.
“We’ll take as long as it takes to find someone who fits the mold we’re looking for but, wherever they come from, as long as they have great experience and are interested in continuing to support the Peoria Park District in a really quality way, then we’ll be glad to work with them.”
Cahill said because of the holidays, the district won’t assess the application situation until mid-January, with the hopes of having the position filled by March.
Bush had served as Chief for over a decade.
