Lake in the Hills to swear in new top cop
Lake in the Hills village officials will be swearing in the town's new police chief April 30.
Deputy Chief David Brey was tapped to lead the department in March after the village board interviewed three internal candidates for the job.
Village President Paul Mulcahy said at the time he wanted a sworn police officer leading the department, which has 38 sworn officers and 18 full-time civilian employees.
Brey started with the department in 1992 and has worked a variety of assignments. He was promoted to sergeant in 2001 and took over as sergeant of investigations in 2003. Brey was appointed deputy chief of patrol services in 2006. He is a graduate of Illinois State University, Northwestern University's Police School of Staff & Command, and the National FBI Academy.
Brey succeeds James Wales, who is retiring after 35 years.
Wales, 59, retired as the village's top cop in 2004, but stayed on as a civilian director of police and public safety. He was only the second police chief in the village's 62-year history. Wales started with the police department in 1978 as a police officer. His last day with the department also is April 30.
"We're being left in a real good position by director Wales," said Brey, adding that he has no immediate plans to make wholesale changes.
Brey said the department recently received accreditation from the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program, and its fleet of squad cars is in good shape.
Brey wants the department to be more involved in the community. His goals include expanding on community relations programs, and researching and identifying new technologies that can help the department meet its mission.
"The technical part (of law enforcement) is expanding pretty rapidly," he said. "You've got to make sure the technologies that you bring in are helpful. There's also challenge with the county of having an effective traffic unit. Eventually we would like to see a full-time traffic unit."
Currently, about nine officers perform traffic enforcement in addition to their patrol duties.
Brey would like to start off the traffic unit with one or two full-time officers dedicated to not only enforcing traffic laws, but also serving as the main accident investigators.
"We get a lot of traffic related complaints from neighborhoods with speeders," he said.
As for community relations, Brey would like to see the department offer more programs, such as a self-defense class for college-age women. The department's existing community-oriented programs include, lunch with a cop, citizens police academies, a safety camp for kids, and bike patrol.
The public swearing-in ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. at the Lake in the Hills Police Safety Educational Center, next to the police station at 1115 Crystal Lake Road. The event is open to community members.