Elburn Police Department swears in new full-time officer – Shaw Local

The Elburn Police Department swore in a new full-time police officer at the town council meeting on Monday, July 15.

Maurivio Silvestri will fill a position that became vacant over a year ago, rounding out the 12-person full-time force that includes Police Chief Nick Sikora. For various reasons, officers who were offered the position last year did not apply.

One decided to take a job with another department, another completed training at the police academy but did not make it through the practical training program, and one who had already passed the academy exam decided not to leave his current job.

Sikora said many police departments the size of Elburn have a harder time recruiting sworn officers, who typically work in larger departments.

Although Silvestri is not a sworn officer, he comes to the department with an associate degree in criminal justice from Waubonsee Community College and work experience as a police cadet for the college.

Silvestri began work on Wednesday, July 17, and will then complete several comprehensive training programs, beginning with an internal training session to learn the department’s policies and procedures.

Provided he passes a state-mandated physical agility test, he will be able to begin a 16-week training course at the police academy in August, which he will complete in December.

The police academy curriculum, which is set by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, covers topics such as traffic law, criminal law, firearms, defensive tactics, ethics, investigative procedures, cultural diversity and community policing.

After graduating from the academy, Silvestri will return to the department to begin 16 weeks of field training, where he will be observed and graded daily.

Handling calls for service, controlling and defusing situations, deciding whether or not to make an arrest, determining what charges to file, and handling a car accident are skills he must demonstrate before he can go out on patrol on his own.