Carpentersville police chief retiring Dec. 30

Carpentersville Police Chief Dave Neumann is a man of few words. But he has a lot of goodbyes ahead of him.

Neumann, 57, a 25-year department veteran, has announced his retirement, effective Dec. 30, Village Manager J. Mark Rooney said.

His post-retirement plans remain unknown and Neumann, who is recovering from surgery, could not be reached for comment Friday.

“He is like the Sphinx — he holds his cards very close to his vest,” Rooney said. “ ... He didn't want to share where he was going.”

The village has hired a search firm to find Neumann's replacement and hopes to have someone in place by the end of February, Rooney said. The village spent $5,000 on the search firm, Rooney said, adding that it could have put out as much at $24,000 for another group. The village posted the opening Friday and the job is listed with a starting salary of $120,000, about a $1,000 less than what Neumann made, Rooney said.

Deputy Chief Michael Kilbourne is filling in as acting chief until the village names Neumann's replacement.

Neumann came to Carpentersville as a patrol officer and rose through the ranks to become a juvenile detective, a lieutenant, the department's first deputy chief and finally, chief.

He was named chief in October 2005 and was leading the department when Trustee Paul Humpfer and then-trustee Judy Sigwalt began a controversial campaign to pass an ordinance to crack down on the illegal immigrants living in town. One of the things they pushed was training for police that would give officers the power to enforce immigration laws.

“Dave was very good during that entire period — his focus was we were not going to take sides, we're going to do our jobs,” Cmdr. Timothy Bosshart said. “It's really important for the police department to remain objective during a situation like that. There's enough politics going on.”

In 2007, Kane County, in conjunction with Carpentersville, Elgin and Aurora, launched an investigation targeting the Latin Kings street gang. Carpentersville ended up with nine arrests of top-level gang members and Neumann was deeply involved in that probe, Bosshart said.

Most recently, Neumann helped usher in an administrative adjudication system that lets residents resolve minor issues — like parking tickets — in Carpentersville court, rather than going to the courts in the southern portion of Kane County. The entire process took two years and has been in existence for about three months.

Neumann's other accolades include graduating from the FBI National Academy in 2000 and from Northwestern University's School of Police Staff and Command, Kilbourne said.

He is married and has four children, Bosshart said.

Village President Ed Ritter called Neumann a “great guy” who helped improve morale at the police department.

“Dave has a really good moral compass,” Ritter said.