Four of the Naperville Police Department’s eight commander posts are currently vacant, the result of a “historic” turnover caused by a slough of retirements that started in January, Police Chief Robert Marshall said.
Friday marked the last day for Cmdr. Lou Cammiso, who will become a residency investigator for Indian Prairie School District 204, and John McAnally, who is moving to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office investigation team. Earlier this month, Cmdr. Tom Kammerer left to become police chief of Princeton, Ill., while Cmdr. Kathleen Anderson moved up to a deputy chief post left vacant by Mike Anders, who retired in January.
“The people who are retiring were hired in the ’80s and ’90s because the city was growing,” Marshall said. “They put in 20, 25 years, and now are ready to exit and try something else.”
Kammerer, McAnnally and Cammiso worked for the department for 24, 26, and 27 years, respectively.
Naperville’s population exploded in the 1980s and ’90s, growing from 40,000 in 1980 to more than 120,000 by 2000, according to census numbers. With those numbers came a need to hire more police officers, many of whom are now nearing retirement age, said Ricky Krakow, a Naperville officer and president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 42.
The turnover rate is unprecedented for Naperville but not unexpected, Marshall said. He plans to name four new commanders by June 1 selected from internal applicants, he said.
There is plenty of talent in-house, as Marshall said he discovered when he conducted an external search to fill the deputy chief vacancy.
“Through the process we found that the most qualified person was here in the department,” Marshall said of Anderson, the department’s first female deputy police chief.
Krakow said the retirements have not been limited to the top ranks. He estimated that anywhere from four to eight officers could be hanging up their badges by the end of this year.
Seeking replacements from the ranks is the way to go, he added. “We know our organization and we know internal candidates benefit the officers and overall career development, and it also benefits our community,” he said.
Marshall said he has asked community members who work closely with the department — school districts, nonprofit groups, Edward Hospital, the media — to “be patient with us” during the promotion process and as the new commanders settle into their jobs.
How quickly a police department can rebound from such turnover will depend on the people selected to fill the vacancies, said Christopher Donner, an associate professor of criminal justice and criminology at Loyola University Chicago. Morale can easily be affected by new administrators bringing different leadership styles and different ways of doing things, so how the transition is handled is key, he said.
“I can see a few ways in which turnover at (or near) the top can affect policing, crime levels, fear of crime, citizen satisfaction, etc.,” Donner said.
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