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Niles Police Misconduct Allegations Put Accreditation At RiskFree Access

Illinois Association Of Chiefs Of Police Confirms Review

Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police logo.

Allegations of Niles police misconduct may jeopardize the department’s Tier 1 accreditation with the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Council, according to a village whistleblower who remains on paid leave from the police department and maintains that he was retaliated against.

The Niles department’s accreditation, a program administered by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, is currently under review. 

“I feel at this moment that the agency’s accreditation status should be suspended until the ILEAP Board of Directors consider my complaint and allegations of misconduct,” Niles Police Cmdr. Nick Beyer said in a May 1 email to the executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, and others from that organization involved in the Niles police accreditation process.

“I want you to know that we are discussing this internally, but I can’t say anything yet about the nature or timing of our response,” Ed Wojcicki, executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, told Beyer in a Monday, May 3 email. “Thank you for bringing all of this to our attention.”

Macomb Police Lt. Jeff Hamer, one of two officers who oversaw the accreditation process on behalf of the accreditation council, confirmed to the Journal the Niles police accreditation is “under review.”

“I have reported severe misconduct with the body camera program, among other serious breaches of policy and procedure. I have reported this misconduct to the Cook County state’s attorney LEAD unit as well,” Beyer said in a May 1 email to Wojcicki, Hamer, and West Chicago Police Management Analyst Dean Myles, who conducted the review of Niles police standards and practices for the Tier 1 accreditation process with Hamer.

Beyer is a 22-year veteran of the Niles force and was the manager of the accreditation process within the Niles Police Department. He resigned from that post last year as the department was considering moving toward Tier 2 accreditation. 

Beyer filed a whistleblower complaint and contacted the state’s attorney over the handling of a well-being check on an unresponsive person at the speaker of a McDonald’s drive-thru at 1:40 a.m. Feb. 28. That person turned out to be an off-duty civilian Niles police employee.

Rather than following protocols, Beyer said a Niles police supervisor drove the employee home to Elgin. Beyer said he was later threatened with physical violence and was placed on paid leave as retaliation for being a whistleblower.

Beyer said in his complaint and to supervisors that body-worn cameras were turned off during the February response in violation of policy. He said body-worn camera footage, which, by both state law and Niles police policy, is supposed to be kept for 90 days before it is recorded over unless flagged for retention. Beyer said it is routinely recorded over after 30 days instead.

NIles Police Seal.

Niles’ outgoing Mayor Andrew Przybylo called for Police Chief Luis Tigera to be placed on paid administrative leave, but Tigera was not and remains in office now.

In June 2019, Niles trustees adopted an ordinance stripping away some of the mayor’s appointment powers. Where before that ordinance became effective, the mayor reappointed department heads annually, the new ordinance allows the mayor to appoint department heads once, with their employment continuing on an “at-will” basis and reporting to the village manager.

On the status of Tigera’s employment, the village recently issued a statement saying Tigera was still acting in his role “per the acting village manager,” and that the village would offer no more comment on the chief’s status.

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