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Evanston Police Department’s staffing woes see improvement

The Evanston Police Department is making progress toward employee retention and morale concerns voiced by residents with 15 permanent staff hires, including both administrative and policing positions.

Evanston police lost 12 permanent staff in 2022 according to City of Evanston records.

“I’m hoping to continue to retain officers and bring on officers that will help transition into this culture change we’re doing right now,” Police Chief Schenita Stewart said.

The department hired five permanent staff members in 2019 while losing 10, in 2020 it hired five while losing 18 and in 2021 it hired seven while losing 18. This makes 2022 the first year where EPD had a net gain of employees with 15 new staff members , of which nine are police officers.

Stewart said that at least six new police officers have already started in 2023.

“We had three that went to the Chicago Police Academy. We had another three go to the South Suburban Law Enforcement Academy,” Stewart said. “Their first day on the job was January 9.”

Evanston residents say the department’s poor morale created its employee retention problem, making it a core topic during the 2022 police chief search. Stewart, Evanston’s newly appointed police chief, said not having consistent leadership, public scrutiny and a management-focused leadership style might have contributed to that morale issue.

“There’s a separation with management and leadership and I think that morale, in any organization, is based off internal leadership,” Stewart said. “Everybody within this organization has value to me and a leader at the Evanston Police Department does not have to have rank for me.”

Stewart said she hopes to achieve this by giving her employees the spotlight. She said providing employees the opportunity to show their skills and lead projects helps establish leaders throughout the department and will hopefully increase morale.

Sgt. Scott Sophier was given a spotlight when he helped with Stewart’s City Council presentation on Councilmember Devon Reid’s referral seeking to legalize public cannabis possession.

“I bought him there on purpose because he understands traffic ordinances. He understands the state statue,” Stewart said. “We have people like that internally here that should be given an opportunity to engage in those situations.”

Stewart said another example is that Officer Cesar Galindo, who serves as the Latinx community liaison, will be running a Spanish-speaking police academy later this year.

“He’s done all the heavy lifting already with that community so why not let him be the one in charge and follow through,” Stewart said.

While staffing concerns are slowly improving, Stewart says roughly 23 positions still need to be filled.

The Evanston Police Department’s staffing woes are part of a nationwide police shortage. A Police Executive Research Forum study shows that between April 2020 and March 2021, police departments reported an 18% increase in resignation compared to between April 2019 and March 2020.

Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.

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