GLEN CARBON - The Glen Carbon Police Department will see some personnel changes in the near future as it expands its hiring capabilities to offset an "exodus" of retiring officers and K-9s.
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A total of seven officers are set to leave the department by next spring. A probationary police officer who did not pass field training is set to resign immediately, while two others will retire in January and February of 2025. Four more officers will start careers with the Illinois State Police next spring.
While the department will only have three vacancies to fill until next spring, Link asked to exceed his “authorized manning” and hire a fourth officer to prepare for the “April exodus” of officers leaving next spring for the State Police.
“This would allow us to get an additional officer in the Southwestern Illinois College Police Academy, which starts on Jan. 6, 2025,” Link wrote in a memo to trustees. “It would also allow us to pre-plan our Field Training through March in preparation for the April exodus of some officers to the Illinois State Police.”
Link has made similar requests in the past, such as in June of 2024 when he asked to hire an additional dispatcher as call volumes were expected to skyrocket from a consolidation with other local agencies.
Two of the department’s K-9s, Griff and Wrath, are also set to retire. Link added in a separate memo that Griff and Wrath were the first two members of the department’s K-9 unit when it started seven years ago.
“In 2017, our police department launched our K-9 program when we acquired two canines, K-9 Wrath and K-9 Griff, using a donation from a patron who wished to support our police department,” Link explained. “Wrath and Griff are now reaching the end of their serviceable lives as patrol canines.”
Both dogs will be transferred to their handlers upon retirement. One of these handlers will start their career with the Illinois State Police next April, so Link decided to expedite the retirement dates for both dogs. Griff’s retirement is effective immediately, while Wrath retires on February 28, 2025.
Village Board members voted unanimously at their meeting on Tuesday to approve both the hiring of an additional officer and the retirement of both K-9s.
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