State board names Mount Prospect detective Female Officer of the Year

A Mount Prospect police officer has achieved a first.

Detective Alexa Kiess has been named the 2023 Women in Criminal Justice Female Officer of the Year by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training And Standards Board.

She is the inaugural recipient of the award, which was presented at the 2023 Women In Criminal Justice Conference in East Peoria.

The award honors a female law enforcement officer who made a significant impact on their agency and community.

The selection panel noted Kiess' work on highly sensitive and in-depth criminal investigations in 2022.

An eight-year veteran of the force, Kiess is assigned to the department's investigations unit. She has also served as a crisis negotiator with the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, as a youth officer and as breathalyzer operator.

"She has demonstrated incredible talent in so many different facets of law enforcement," Village Manager Michael Cassady said at Tuesday's village board meeting.

Deputy Police Chief Timothy Griffin singled Kiess' sensitive handling of a case involving the homicide of an infant.

"That case was incredibly complex," he said. "It was very difficult for anybody involved to handle that case. She spent a significant amount of time and (used) every resource available to her to come up with a very thorough investigation that led to charges, ultimately, against the father of that infant."