John Keating plans to step down as Mokena’s police chief after a little more than three months on the job, according to the village.
His departure will be the third change in the top position in the department in less than a year.
Formerly a police commander in Orland Park, Keating started as Mokena chief May 10 and will step down Aug. 29.
He said he is leaving for personal reasons.
In a two-paragraph announcement Tuesday, Mokena Mayor Frank Fleischer said Keating did an excellent job.
“His professionalism, transparency, and rapport with our residents and businesses, the Village Board, and those under his command, as well as with other management staff, will be greatly missed,” Fleischer said.
Keating was with the Orland Police Department for 29 years and named a police commander in 2010, overseeing the investigations division before retiring in November 2016.
Before coming to Mokena, Keating was an investigator with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
In Mokena, he took the helm from his former boss in Orland Park, Tim McCarthy, who had been brought on as Mokena’s interim chief last November.
Steve Vaccaro had been Mokena’s chief since March 2014 and was placed on paid administrative leave at the end of last October after the village’s police officers and sergeants sent a letter to village officials stating they had no confidence in their chief. Vaccaro retired in December.
mnolan@tribpub.com
