Veteran police officer Dorn sworn in as Barrington's new chief

David Dorn was sworn in as Barrington's police chief Monday after six months of carrying the acting chief tag and several months before that as assistant chief.

Though no other candidate was sought during Dorn's time as acting chief, Barrington Village Manager Jeff Lawler — a former police chief of the village himself — said six months generally is the right time frame in which to determine whether an employee and a new position are a good fit.

“I had tremendous confidence in Dave,” Lawler said.

It's just as important for the employee to determine whether he or she likes the job as it is for the village to evaluate the employee's performance, Lawler added. Just because one pursues a law enforcement career doesn't necessarily mean he or she will be interested in administrative roles, he said.

Barrington historically has looked for people with strong potential for career advancement even among its rookie hires.

“We've tried purposefully to find people who had the ability to be promoted,” he said. “All of our sergeants have master's degrees.”

As members of a relatively smaller force, Barrington police officers get to experience many different facets of law enforcement in their career, said Dorn, a 15-year department veteran. During his tenure, for example, Dorn spent four years as the liaison officer to Barrington High School.

Dorn was promoted from sergeant to the new position of assistant chief in January, after then Chief Jerry Libit said he wanted a designated second-in-command in order to establish a smooth order of succession, although at the time it wasn't known how close he was to retirement. When Libit decided to retire in May, Dorn was promoted to acting chief.

Dorn said he would like to name a new assistant chief, but that will be dependent on staffing levels in the months ahead. It will take at least 12 weeks for a new recruit to complete field training and bring the department's number of sworn officers up to the standard 23 — barring any departures or sick leaves in the meantime.