Interim City Manager Kelley A. Gandurski has announced the appointment of former Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington to serve as the city’s interim Police Chief.
Eddington, who served as Evanston Police Chief from 2007 through 2018, has more than 44 years of law enforcement experience. He will fill the role of interim Police Chief Aretha Barnes, who will retire from the Evanston Police Department on Jan. 3.
“Chief Eddington is a proven leader with a deep understanding of the Evanston community and the Evanston Police Department,” Gandurski said in a news release. “I appreciate him returning to Evanston to fill this critical position as the city undertakes to fill the role of a permanent police chief.”
During his time as Evanston Police Chief, Part One crimes, which are major offenses reported each year to the FBI, including murder, burglary and assault, decreased nearly 40%, the news release said. Eddington also worked to strengthen Evanston’s police-community partnership, reinstituting foot patrol, providing deescalation training for all officers, and implementing the department’s body-worn camera program, the release said. It added that he also oversaw the inception of the Officer and Gentlemen Academy youth mentoring program and the reestablishment of the EPD Explorers program, building relationships and rapport with Evanston youth.
Eddington began his career as a police officer for the Village of Roselle in 1974, rising to Police Chief in 1991, the release said. In 2001, he was hired as external Chief of Police for the Village of Mount Prospect to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of racial profiling. There, he instituted reforms that led to reaching a memorandum of understanding with the DOJ, the release said. After completing his service in Mount Prospect, Eddington was hired as Evanston’s police chief in 2007. Since retiring from the Evanston Police Department at the end of 2018, Eddington has served as a vice president at GovHR, a public sector consulting firm, the release said.
According to the release, Eddington holds a master’s degree in law enforcement administration from Western Illinois University and a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement administration from Loyola University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and is designated as a retired certified chief by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. The release said he is also the recipient of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police President’s Award, and he earned the Roselle Police Department’s Gallantry Cross and Purple Heart for police actions against an armed offender.
For more information, call or text 847-448-4311, or dial 311 in Evanston.
Source: City of Evanston