Union head says Joliet is playing politics with promotions

The head of one of the city’s police unions contends that promotions are being held up because of who the union is backing in the upcoming mayoral election.

Joliet City Manager James Capparelli has put a hold on promotions, noting that he believes the city needs to keep more officers on the streets and wants a review of the process for promoting police.

Matt Breen, president of the Joliet Fraternal Order of Police Supervisors Association, said promotions have been stopped because of politics.

“It’s political retaliation,” Breen said. “We have openings.”

The union in November endorsed Terry D’Arcy, one of two candidates along with Tycee Bell challenging incumbent Mayor Bob O’Dekirk in the April 4 election. On Feb. 1, the union on its Facebook page questioned the mayor’s support for police and posted a letter written in June 2020 by O’Dekirk to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office inviting an investigation into the Joliet Police Department.

The letter asked for an investigation focused on the police department’s handling of the controversial death of Eric Lurry, who died while in custody from what authorities said was a self-ingested drug overdose. But the attorney general’s office opened a wide-ranging investigation into the police department that is ongoing.

Breen pointed to what at least has been an interruption in the recommended promotion of Sgt. Julie Larson to lieutenant, which was delayed by the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners in December and has never been brought back for a vote.

“There was not an issue until our endorsement came out, and that letter was put on our union Facebook page,” Breen said.

O’Dekirk, a former Joliet police officer, said he never saw the Facebook posting and called Breen’s comments “nonsense.”

“To claim that we’re going to change business in the police department because of their endorsement is ridiculous,” O’Dekirk said.

O’Dekirk said he has been endorsed by all other city unions, including the separate police union representing patrol officers.

Capparelli said he had an issue before the December police board meeting about the number of promotions being made in the department and had voiced concerns to Chief William Evans.

“How do you justify having that many bosses if there’s nobody to boss around?” Capparelli said. “There’s no need, especially now at this particular juncture, to promote someone because they are on a list and we have a vacancy.”

The city is trying to build up the size of its police force while replacing an exodus of officers reaching retirement.

Joliet hired 40 officers last year to bring police staffing to 267 officers. The 2023 budget provides for a total of 286 officers, and the city continues to recruit police.

“If we’re fully staffed, I’ll put on sergeants, but I’m not going to fill a vacancy just to create a vacancy,” Capparelli said. “We are going to review our process.”

Capparelli said he may hire a consultant to review the Joliet process and did not have a timeline for when he might allow promotions to continue.

Breen, whose union represents officers at sergeant rank and above, said the new recruits the city is hiring are the kind of officers who need supervision.

“You’re looking at a lot of young officers with under two years of experience,” he said.

The supervisors’ union members includes Sgt. Chris D’Arcy, the son of mayoral candidate Terry D’Arcy. Breen said Chris D’Arcy “is not politically active” and did not influence the union’s unanimous vote to endorse Terry D’Arcy.