Orland Park Village Board honors McCarthy at meeting
Board members also vote 7-0 to approve contract for interim police chief
Orland Park Police Chief Timothy McCarthy looks up at group of officers who attended the Monday, July 20 Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees meeting to honor the retiring chief. McCarthy is set to officially retire on Aug. 1. JON DEPAOLIS/RICHARD FREE PRESS
By Jon DePaolis
ORLAND PARK, Ill. — One of the most prominent figures in Orland Park formally bid adieu Monday, July 20, as retiring Police Chief Timothy McCarthy was honored by the Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees.
McCarthy, who is officially set to retire on Aug. 1 after an illustrious career with both the U.S. Secret Service and the Orland Park Police Department, was recognized with a proclamation during the board meeting.
“Personally, I want to thank him for his service during my tenure,” Mayor Keith Pekau said prior to reading the proclamation. “You’ve been an absolute professional since Day 1 and provided outstanding advice and wise counsel whenever leaned upon.”
McCarthy thanked the Village boards past and present for the support over the years.
“A police department is only as good as the support it gets,” he said. “As a chief of police — and all our officers here [too] — every crime in Orland Park you take personally. You sleep with one eye open for your entire career, waiting for to get a call at 2 or 3 in the morning for tragic events that often take place. But it has been the policy of the Village of Orland Park Board to recognize that [the police have] a professional department and allow them to do their job. It’s a rare day when I get a call from a Village trustee or even the mayor requesting anything from the police department. It is absolutely outstanding, and I think the results prove that that is the proper way to go.”
Retiring Orland Park Police Chief Timothy McCarthy takes a moment after emotionally talking about the police department’s officers and investigators Monday, July 20, during a recognition ceremony placed on the Village Board meeting agenda. JON DEPAOLIS/RICHARD FREE PRESS
During his remarks to the board members, McCarthy credited the police department’s success to the police officers and investigators.
“Chief of police is a small cog in a big wheel,” he said. “You give a lot of direction, but without the outstanding professionals that we have in our department — the deputy chief, commanders, lieutenants, sergeants, and the patrol officers — it would not be the department that it is.”
McCarthy also thanked the staff at the police department that handle the other tasks and responsibilities, as well as the private citizens who have taken an active role in helping the police department over the years. He concluded by thanking the community for supporting the police.
“So, as I kind of fade into the sunset of retirement, I do so knowing that ‘mission accomplished’ and that the department is in good hands,” McCarthy said.
Trustee Kathleen Fenton, who was a board member when McCarthy was selected to be police chief, praised McCarthy for the job he did for Orland Park.
“Without your leadership, we wouldn’t have — as I’ve always stated — the best police department in the State of Illinois or in the nation,” she said. “You said you were just a cog in the wheel, but leadership makes a difference.”
Pekau agreed with Fenton, adding that “leadership is what makes policing and what makes a department.” Pekau referenced his time in the military as an example.
“Some of the squads were very poor, because leadership was poor,” he said. “It’s about leadership. The chief has hired great leaders. He’s developed great leaders. That’s a reflection on him.”
Pekau also stated that as mayor, he has sought out McCarthy’s advice because of his respect for the police chief.
“I can tell you, chief, that you are one of maybe four people I’ve reached out to and asked for their advice and thoughts on the challenges I’ve faced, because you are one of the best leaders I’ve ever been around,” he said. “Thank you for your service to our country and thank you for your service to Orland Park.”
Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau (left) and retiring Orland Park Police Chief Timothy McCarthy shake hands Monday, July 20, after the mayor presented the longtime Village police chief with a proclamation recognizing McCarthy’s service. JON DEPAOLIS/RICHARD FREE PRESS
Before McCarthy concluded his remarks, the longtime Orland Park police chief also voiced support for new Interim Police Chief Joseph Mitchell — whose interim contract was approved by a 7-0 vote after an executive session later in the evening.
“I hope he becomes the chief, and you’ll find that you couldn’t find a better person to take over the reins,” McCarthy said of Mitchell.
Several trustees joined in later during the meeting, with a few going so far as to say they hoped Mitchell eventually would be selected as the permanent chief of police.
Mitchell’s interim chief contract is set to begin Aug. 2. Details of the contract were not finalized as of the July 20 meeting, according to Village Manager George Koczwara.
Nothing like Trustee Fenton taking a night to honor Chief McCarthy and making it about her by taking credit for hiring the chief 26 or 27 years ago. Prime example of why we need term limits in government.