Police Work In Blood For Ex-Riverside Chief

La Grange IL

11 June, 2021

2:12 PM

Description

RIVERSIDE, IL — It's fair to say that law enforcement is in former Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel's blood. His three sons followed him in that line of work. "I'm invested in this profession," said Weitzel, who retired as chief last month. Weitzel, who recently turned 60, joined the Riverside Police Department 37 years ago and became its chief in 2008. Before joining the department, he worked for Brookfield Zoo's police force for a couple of years, putting his total service at nearly four decades. Weitzel has no definitive agenda for his retirement. But he plans to look at both part- and full-time opportunities. He said he is considering making his name available for interim police chief positions. He said the biggest change in his years in law enforcement is technology. Until 2008, the department was using paper reports. Now, everything can be done on tablets inside squad cars. "Unless you physically make an arrest, you don't have to go to the police station," Weitzel said in an interview Thursday. "That's a huge leap forward." Weitzel also said the proliferation of security cameras has made catching criminals much easier than it used to be. Police officers, he said, are trained to deal with upset people. "You are dealing with them in their worst moments," he said. As for domestic battery cases, victims often suffer from violence for a long time before making their first call to police, Weitzel said. "For them to call the police, that's a last resort. They may have been going through abuse for months or years, and they finally had the courage to call 911," he said. With Weitzel's retirement, the village decided to eliminate the chief's position and create a new director of public safety post, overseeing both police and fire. Fire Chief Matthew Buckley, who also has a police background, was named to the position. Weitzel said he missed his job, but he thought it was the right to give others an opportunity to step up. "I loved working in Riverside. The officers were fantastic, and it was a very professional department. When I took over as chief in 2008, it was already that way," Weitzel said. "I was fortunate to work in a community with a such a fantastic department."