Montgomery Police Chief Daniel C. Meyers has announced he will retire April 30.
Meyers began as an officer with the department in 1985 and was promoted to sergeant in 1988. He served as detective sergeant from 1999 to 2006. In 2006, he was promoted to the newly-created position of deputy chief, which was designed to provide an additional high-level supervisory position within the department.
In 2010, he was named police chief.
“I’m proud and thankful. It has been a genuine privilege and honor serving this fine community,” he said. “It’s always been my goal to provide Montgomery residents with the highest quality professional public safety services. It has been a gratifying career and I’ve had the privilege of working with many outstanding officers and staff.”
When he began with the Montgomery Police Department in 1985, the village consisted of 5,471 residents. Today, the last census in 2010 put the numbers at just over 18,000.
“He is a bright and professional police chief and he has the respect of everyone here and with police chiefs all over the country,” said Montgomery Trustee Stan Bond. “He has been a great asset to the village.”
Bond said a national search needs to be completed for a replacement and said that won’t be easy. He suggested an Illinois candidate might do better, since they would be familiar with the laws in the state.
“We will begin the search and give ourselves time to evaluate what duties we want the person to perform,” he said.
Village Administrator Jeff Zoephel said Meyers has been an outstanding police chief.
“He has been here a long time and has seen a lot of changes and helped guide the police department through all of that,” he said.
Zoephel said there will be some type of celebration for Meyers before the chief leaves the community.
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As far as a replacement, he said, “we hope have an ad out this week and accept resumes by March 1.”
Judy Pochel is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.