Former Joliet police chiefs endorse Dorris for City Council

Five former Joliet police chiefs on Monday endorsed Warren Dorris, a city council candidate who has called for the mayor’s resignation.

The endorsements were announced by Dorris, a former councilman who has been critical of Mayor Bob O’Dekirk and called on him to resign after a run-in with protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally last year.

“The chiefs approached me and said they wanted to endorse me,” Dorris said. “Anyone who has the experience and knowledge that they have, I’d be pleased to have their support.”

The endorsements come from Al Roechner, who retired this month, Brian Benton, Mike Trafton, Fred Hayes and Dave Gerdes.

“Good for them,” O’Dekirk said, saying he otherwise had no comment.

Asked about Dorris’s past statement that he should resign, O’Dekirk said, “I don’t care what he has to say. Apparently, neither does anyone else.”

The news release announcing the endorsements includes quotes from all five chiefs, none of them mentioning the mayor.

But it does state that Dorris opposes O’Dekirk’s interference in the police department disciplinary process.

Asked to elaborate on that, Dorris referred to two suspensions that were reduced to written reprimands last year by former interim City Manager Jim Hock.

One of those reduced suspensions involved retired Officer Joe Clement, who also is running for City Council. Clement had been suspended for 25 days for allegedly joining the mayor in making accusations that a police sergeant working a downtown festival was drunk on duty in 2019. Roechner took the sergeant into the hospital that night for blood and urine tests that showed no alcohol.

Dorris said he believes O’Dekirk had a hand in the reduced discipline.

“I believe that the disciplinary process has not really followed the process that it should have,” Dorris said.

“Warren doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” O’Dekirk said.

Statements from the former police chiefs focus on Dorris, who had been a City Council members in previous years when they had all served as chief.

Roechner’s statement refers to Councilman Mike Turk’s decision not to run for re-election in April and said, “I’m honored to endorse Warren Dorris for councilman-at-large because Warren will step right in where Mike leaves off and never compromise his honesty, integrity or ethics for anyone.”

“Warren worked very hard building trust between the police and the community,” Hayes, who retired in 2011 and later became the police chief of Elwood, said in the release. “Doing that, he greatly increased police accountability and transparency, which are critical to maintaining public safety and effective policing.”