Joliet Police Department Update

William (Bill) Evans was appointed Joliet’s chief of police on March 1 st , 2022.
Chief Evans is a former Cook County sheriff’s police commander, during which he
served in a variety of positions in his 25-year career with the department, including the
gang crimes unit, the Hostage Barricade Terrorist Team, the patrol division, the
organized crime section and as a police academy instructor. During his career in
policing, he received several department commendations and awards. Chief Evans
served as the commanding officer of the sheriff’s police Emergency Services Bureau
and was a member of the department’s Hostage Barricade Terrorist Team for over 16
years. He is a veteran of over 750 critical incidents during his tenure as a sheriff’s
police officer.
Chief Evans was also the co-chairman of the UASI Training and Exercise Committee,
having been involved in the planning and execution of several full-scale training
exercises, training seminars and tabletop exercises. Evans has had the honor of
travelling overseas to provide instruction to law enforcement personnel from around the
globe. During his time as a SWAT commander, Chief Evans has not only provided
training and evaluation to various tactical teams, he also assisted in creating training
programs for outside SWAT agencies. After retirement from the sheriff’s police, Chief
Evans worked for the United States Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. and
has written several law enforcement articles that were published in various publications.
Since 2018, Chief Evans has worked as a security and safety consultant before coming
to Joliet.
From 1992-1997, Chief Evans was a professional boxer in the middleweight and super
middleweight divisions. He went on to have a successful professional career,
eventually being ranked #2 in the state.
Chief Evans holds a master’s degree in Criminal Justice Administration and a bachelor’s
degree in World Sociology from Saint Joseph’s College in Indiana. He is also a 2005
graduate of Northwestern University’s elite School of Police Staff and Command and
the Western Illinois University’s 21st century in law enforcement executive development
course.
A native of Chicago’s southwest side, Chief Evans now resides in downtown Joliet.