News comes today that Schaumburg Police Director Richard Casler has resigned his post. I have long heard grumblings from police officers and Schaumburg citizens that there have been many who strongly disliked the Schaumburg police chief, but then again, the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition also applauded the recent move by Schaumburg and Richard Casler to end the innefective DARE program. One move, good or bad, does not make or break a Police Chief, it’s an accumulation of actions and policy decisions over time that determine the success of an administration.

Now that administration has come to an end, it will be interesting to see the reasons behind Mr. Casler’s resignation. Here are some media stories on the issue:

Schaumburg police director resigns (Chicago Tribune)

Ninety-six percent of union members in January 2003 voted no-confidence for Casler and “that vote speaks for itself,” Atamian said.

“That was our stand then and since then it’s gone downhill,” he said. “Schaumburg used to have a reputation as one of the premier police departments. … Hopefully now we can get back to that status.”

Schaumburg police director steps down (Daily Herald)

Howerton was one of two police chiefs serving under Casler, who performed his duties as director as a civilian rather than a sworn officer. Casler had been the chief of police until 2001, when he reached retirement age. Rather than lose him, Schaumburg created the director’s position, making Casler a civilian officer and paying him an annual salary of more than $100,000 while he also collected a $70,000-a-year pension.

The Schaumburg Freedom Coalition recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Schaumburg salaries and revealed that Richard Casler made $142,264.43 in 2008. Which is a lot more than the $100,000 found by the Daily Herald. Also, we know from another Schaumburg Freedom Coalition Freedom of Information Act Request, that within the Treasurer’s Report that Richard Casler made between $75,000 and $99,999 from his pension in 2008. Which puts him at a minimum of $217,264.43 in wages last year from the taxpayers of Schaumburg. That’s a lot of money for a Village that has three Police Chiefs.

Looking at some of the comments made at the two websites that ran this story, there is a lot of disappointment in Richard Casler and how the Schaumburg PD has been managed over the last decade plus. Here are some of the comments made by Daily Herald readers:

“Every police officer in the Northern Illinois area knows that Schaumburg is the worst place to work. Officers change departments all the time, but NO ONE transfers to Schaumburg PD.”

“The village needs to restructure that place before the cops revolt, there is no motivation, low morale, and high stress. I implore every SPD officer to find a cop job somewhere else.”

“To all the Schaumburg officers that I watched take that garbage while I worked there, my hats off to you! You deserve the best administration possible. That also includes replacing the village employees and trustees that allowed all of this non sense to continue.”

“What a scam! Get your job changed so that you can collect your police pension and then basically do the same duties and receive the same pay until you have enough time in to be able to collect from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) pension! It seem kinda fishy that it takes 8 years to become vesting in IMRF and his old position was changed in 2001 thus giving him enough time to be able to be vested in both.”

“This has corruption written all over it and certainly someone should investigate as to why the director position was created in 2001 and if it was legal.”

“Legal or not… shame on Schaumburg! This is exactly what is wrong with government today!”

“Obviously there are a few officers that have posted and weren’t fond of Casler. There may be some that were, but as a resident (and a taxpayer) I was not aware of the “arrangement”. I can assure everyone that it doesn’t work that way in the private sector. And this deal smacks of corruption. 70K pension and a 100K salary? – for doing basically the same job? 3 chiefs in a department? You have gotta be kidding me. So let’s see – You’ve got Casler and 2 other “Chiefs” hauling in major bucks when it should be 1 chief and a couple of captains. For 170K you can put 2 officers on the streets that actually work for a living. I’d say a major overhaul is in order – starting at the top. I’d suggest that residents also look real hard at village trustees – and any other politicos that allow this blatant waste of taxpayer dollars. The time for this type of crap is long over, and Schaumburg has been flying under the radar for way too long.”

If you have  a personal experience or knowledge of how the Schaumburg Police Department is managed, please feel free to comment here. Please let us know what you think has gone wrong and what suggestions you have to help Schaumburg’s Police force become a better one.

Also, if you think that there is bad policy or even corruption that went on (or is going on) in Schaumburg, please let the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition know so we can investigate.

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