Dupage Policy Journal

Hinsdale has had a public safety director for nearly two years, but at least one villager doesn't know the reason.

"None that I'm aware of," East North Street resident Jim Brody told the DuPage Policy Journal. "And why don't larger municipalities around us have one?"

Brody, who says he is a former Democrat from Chicago's 19th Ward who is now a Republican, has lived in Hinsdale for 33 years. He said he found out the position had been created by reading about it in a local newspaper. 

"I believe it was in the (Chicago Tribune's) Doings newspaper, and a few neighbors asked if I knew anything about it," he said.

In late winter 2016, Kevin Simpson was named Hinsdale police chief after serving as deputy chief when Bradley Bloom stepped down to become assistant village manager and director of public safety. The arrangement allowed the police chief to collect a pension while still working full time.

Brody said he wrote a letter to the editor of Doings asking why the public safety position was needed. 

"The village of Elmhurst just north of us, with a population of twice ours, does not have a public safety director," Brody said in an email to the DuPage Policy Journal.

Brody said he wasn't satisfied with the answer that retiring officers at one time created the need for the post. 

"This is the result of poor management by the village, and we get to pay for the incompetence," he said.  

Having the position is unfair to taxpayers "because we have a qualified police chief and city manager," Brody said.

"Also, with NIU (Northern Illinois University) in our backyard, which has a renowned city management program, the village could have gotten a graduate or undergraduate from their program as an assistant village manager and saved tax dollars."