Oakton police chief resigns, college hires interim
Oakton Community College's police chief resigned for personal reasons after less than a year and a half on the job, officials said.
Public Safety Chief Dale Gustafson resigned effective March 31. He took the helm of the 12-member police department in November 2015.
The college has hired Nicholas Weiss to oversee the department's transition. Weiss has served in numerous police departments during his 40-year law enforcement career.
Weiss will be paid $90,000 annually, which would be prorated for time he serves as police chief, spokesman Paul Palian said.
Weiss most recently served as the police chief from 2010 to 2011 in the Village of Elwood, a community of about 2,300 south of Joliet. Previously, he was a police chief in Gilberts, River Forest, Midlothian and Lincolnwood. Weiss' longest tenure as a police chief was an eight-year stint from 1994 to 2002 in Lincolnwood.
"Chief Weiss will assist with the operations of the Oakton Police Department and provide assistance with the recruitment of a new police chief," Vice President for Administrative Affairs Edwin Chandrasekar said in a news release.
"He has led a number of innovative and successful community policing programs designed to provide professional law enforcement services in an era of shrinking resources."
Weiss was an adjunct faculty member at University of Phoenix in the area of criminal justice administration in 2011 and 2012. He also taught introduction to law enforcement courses at Joliet Junior College in 2009.
He rose through the ranks from patrol officer to lieutenant at the Joliet Police Department from 1968 to 1989.
"Having served in various capacities in college towns and also in District 535 in the Village of Lincolnwood, working on campus provides a different perspective and offers new challenges," Weiss said in the news release. "I look forward to serving Oakton."