East Dundee Police Department Chief named as the ILACP Chief of the Year

EAST DUNDEE—The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (ILACP) recently named East Dundee Police Chief James R. Kruger, Jr. as the 2022 Chief of the Year.

According to a press release, the ILACP—an organization that has 1,300 members statewide, presents the Chief of the Year award to a chief who excels in his or her own department and provides extraordinary service to the association.

Photo Provided (ILACP/WCS Photography)

East Dundee Police Chief Jim Kruger was named as the ILACP’s 2022 Chief of the Year.

Kruger is expected to be recognized during the ILACP’s annual conference which will take place on April 29, in Northbrook.

The ILACP states that Kruger was nominated for the award by several members of the organization, with the final selection being made by the association’s Board of Officers, which also serves as the Board of Directors.

In December 2021, Kruger retired from the Oak Brook Police Department after serving there for 10 years. In addition, Kruger simultaneously took on the role of the ILACP’s president.

He had previously been the chief of police for the Roselle and Winfield Police Departments after spending 20 years serving the Carpentersville Police Department. Kruger just recently took on the role of police chief for the Village of East Dundee back in February.

“Jim is a servant leader, and if you want to know what that means, just watch what he does and how he speaks and you’ll know the answer,” said ILACP President Mitchell R. Davis III in the press release. “Chief Kruger has been a mentor to so many law enforcement officers over the years, and he is respected broadly as one of the best chiefs in Illinois. He has been especially important in promoting the careers of women officers, and he was our point person with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) when we signed the historic Ten Shared Principles in 2018.”

Following his successful year as the ILACP president from 2017 to 2018, Kruger has continued to serve the association on the Legislative Committee and in other ways.

Kruger has devoted an insurmountable number of hours interacting with key legislators, committees, and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on important criminal justice legislation in Springfield in the past two years.

“He has this calm way of explaining policies and issues that makes sense to the public officials. By serving our association and our legislative efforts, he has become an important voice for all of Illinois law enforcement,” said ILACP Executive Director Ed Wojcicki.

Kruger has continuously been recognized as a leader on diversity issues for the ILACP in the past decade.

While he served as the police chief in Oak Brook, Kruger’s department worked closely with the Unity Partnership of DuPage County, which facilitates relationships with African Americans, Latinos, Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, and others who live or work in Oak Brook.

Because of his work with the Unity Partnership of DuPage County, Kruger attracted many diverse leaders from the organization to the 2017 ILACP Annual Conference at the former McDonald’s Corporation headquarters in Oak Brook.

In addition, Kruger then focused on building on the work of his ILACP predecessors to bring the historic Ten Shared Principles to fruition in 2018.

He and NAACP Illinois Conference State President Teresa Haley signed the principles in an elegant ceremony in the Old State Capitol.

The principles have since stirred hundreds of healthy conversations about race relations in the past four years. The principles have also been adopted by more than 280 Illinois police departments, as well as other state agencies including the Illinois Municipal League, Illinois City-County Management Association, and AT&T Illinois.

More impressive still is that the principles were adopted at the national level by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE).

“Jim is also active on LinkedIn and frequently shares the Illinois Chiefs’ posts, which contributes to the ILACP being a thought leader in Illinois law enforcement and criminal justice circles,” said Wojcicki. “There is just so much he has done for us, and I personally go to him when I need advice or insight on just about every issue.”

Under Kruger’s leadership, the Oak Brook Police Department became the first police department in Illinois to become accredited both nationally and, in the state—by CALEA (The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) and ILEAP (The Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program).

While focusing on his police duties, Kruger also managed to become the founding director of the Criminal Justice Management program at Judson University (1151 N State Street, Elgin).

Additionally, Kruger served as an adjunct professor in both the Criminal Justice and Management and Leadership programs at Judson University and at Elgin Community College.

“Jim has been a leader in officer wellness, co-chairing our Officer Wellness Committee, and working with chaplains and social service professionals to link officers and Illinois communities with the skills of ministers, social workers, police psychologists, and the like,” added Wojcicki in the press release. “He’s been an advocate of Special Olympics Illinois, our charity of choice, and he showed great leadership by starting a Polar Plunge in Oak Brook and jumping into freezing water himself to raise money for Special Olympics athletes.”

Kruger obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Management and Leadership from Judson University and also holds a Master of Science degree from National-Louis University located in Chicago.

He is a 1994 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command.