Riverside Assistant Police Chief Thomas Weitzel has been selected to succeed Eugene Karczewski as the village’s next police chief.
Weitzel will take over as acting chief Oct. 1 and will be officially sworn in as chief Jan. 12 when Karczewski’s contract expires. His salary will be $104,000, Village Manager Kathleen Rush said.
“I’m honored that the village president, board of trustees and village manager have enough confidence in my abilities to select me as chief,” Weitzel said. “I’m also grateful to the current chief, Chief Karczewski, for his mentoring over the years. He’s been a tremendous teacher to all the employees, not just myself.”
Weitzel joined the Riverside Police Department in September 1984 as a patrol officer. He worked as a sergeant, detective and lieutenant before being appointed assistant chief in June 2003. Prior to joining the department, he worked for two years a patrol officer with the Chicago Zoological Park police at Brookfield Zoo.
During his time in Riverside, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Lewis University in Romeoville and attended numerous professional training courses, including the three-month-long FBI National Academy in 2004 in Quantico, Va.
“I think he’s a great selection,” Karczewski said. “He has good ethics, good common sense and good leadership skills. That’s what it takes to be an effective chief of police, and I’m sure he will be one.”
In recent years, Weitzel has spoken at numerous law enforcement conferences across the country, most recently in June at the South Carolina Police Executive Institute in Columbia, S.C.
As chief, Weitzel wants to continue the work Karczewski has done during his 12 years at the top of the department.
“My first goal is to maintain the services that we have that Chief Karczewski was able to develop over the years,” he said.
Once he takes the reins of the department, Weitzel plans to work with the community to develop a long-term strategic plan for the department. He wants to hold public to meetings to ask residents, “What is it that you want from us as an agency?” he said.
“We don’t want to make the priorities for the citizens; we want the citizens to make the priorities for us,” Weitzel said.
Another goal for the department is to continue developing partnerships with community leaders, including school superintendents, religious leaders and the Chamber of Commerce. He said he plans to meet personally with every business owner in town to ask them to be a part of the long-term planning process.
Weitzel will also make transparency a priority for the department, he said.
“We’re fortunate to work in a community where the police are very highly regarded, and the officers know that,” Weitzel said.