Flossmoor appoints next police chief and interim director of police services

Flossmoor has appointed a successor to former police chief Jerel Jones, who claimed he was fired this spring for racial discrimination.

Carl Estelle, the special events director at Country Club Hills, will begin his new job as director of police services in Flossmoor on July 29 and will eventually advance to police chief once he is sworn in in Illinois, as his certifications are from California, according to a village news release.

Although the town council approved the creation of the position on July 1, Estelle was selected for the job by Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson.

“Estelle’s proven leadership and management skills, along with his immense experience in law enforcement, will be an asset to the Village of Flossmoor,” Nelson said in the release. “I am confident that Carl Estelle is the person Flossmoor needs for the job today; we are excited to have him on our team.”

Estelle is a Flossmoor native and, prior to working at Country Club Hills, was the director of security operations and compliance for the City Colleges of Chicago’s security department. He also served as a police captain in East Palo Alto, California, for six years, “where he helped dramatically reduce crime and violence while effectively addressing risk management issues and improving the use of technology in policing,” the release said.

As director of police services, he will coordinate the village’s emergency management agency, working with the Flossmoor Fire Department on training and implementing the village’s emergency response plan and operations plans, according to the release. The village’s acting police chief is Keith Taylor.

Estelle was part of the 2022 search for a police chief that found Jones, who was fired after about a year for poor performance, village officials said at the time. But Jones filed a federal lawsuit against the village in March, claiming he was fired because of his race.

Flossmoor Trustee Joni Bradley Scott said concerns about the nature of Jones’ firing prompted the village administrator to promise to answer trustees’ questions and provide information before a new chief is hired. However, she said she learned of the new position at the same time as the public.

“That’s my concern about our approach and the transparency we have as a board with the community,” Bradley Scott said in an interview Wednesday. She said she believes the community never provided compelling reasons for its decision to fire Jones and should have made its expectations clear before hiring his successor.

“If we say this person (Jones) did not have the qualifications and was not up to the job, then we have to show the public what he did that was not up to the job and that this person will be far better,” she said.

Church officials said Jones was aware that “the first year was a ‘probationary period’ during which his immediate supervisor had the duty to assess whether he met the church’s high expectations.”

Estelle did not respond to requests for comment, but said in the press release that he plans to make policing in Flossmoor community-focused, adding, “The approach must be inclusive, fair, unbiased and the same for all residents.” He also said he wants to make crime analysis more efficient by using modern, data-driven technologies.

“Although Flossmoor is generally considered a safe community, property crime, traffic safety issues and occasional burglaries and more serious crimes remain a priority,” says Estelle. “Police must evaluate crime statistics to respond appropriately where help is needed, and they must balance proactive crime prevention measures with responsive law enforcement.”

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Originally published: July 15, 2024 at 16:03