Local Activists say Will County Sheriff Commander is a Bad Cop; Call for His Firing
Local Activists say Will County Sheriff Commander is a Bad Cop; Call for His Firing (Will County, IL) — A group of local activists gathered outside Homer Glen Village Hall to call for the firing of Will County Sheriff Commander Dan Troike. They say his history of racist and unethical behavior compromises his ability to serve and protect.
Troike’s history of bad behavior dates back to at least 1999, after he and 4 other deputies, then with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, were indicted after they chased after and shot at a Black couple in a drunken rage. The couple, fearing for their lives, fled through the South Suburbs to the Robbins Police Station, where they were ushered inside to seek shelter from the bullets. The officers were off-duty at the time, having just left a fundraiser. They were not in a marked police vehicle.
Local activist Dr. Cornel Darden Jr., who was raised in Robbins, said, “I remember being a young boy, fourteen years old, back in 1999, when I heard that Commander Troike and four other deputies of the Cook County Sheriff were chasing two young Black people.” Of their later acquittal, Dr. Darden said, “We think that is a huge violation of not only our civil rights, but of our human rights, to have to be scared of being shot at by police officers who did not even announce themselves as police officers.”
Community member Shawn Morris said he remembers the incident well. He said, “How is he still the police? If we did something like that, we’d be in jail. He gets a better job.”
Despite this behavior, Troike continued his employment with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, and now works with the Will County Sheriff’s Office as a high-ranking commander. He continues to be rewarded for his misbehavior, having moved up through the ranks, now serving as a commander. He currently makes a salary of over $140,000 per year, up from about $94,000 in 2015.
To add to his history of bad behavior, in 2013, as a Sergeant with the Will County Sheriff’s Office, Troike told a Detective to “do as he was told” when that Detective complained after he was asked to illegally access information on an iPad without a warrant. The device belonged to the wife of a deputy chief who suspected his wife was cheating. The Detective who complained to Troike was demoted.
Furthermore, Troike is currently entangled in a lawsuit that questions his investigation into an officer-involved shooting in Joliet which left a Black mentally ill man and his grandfather dead. Troike found that the officers who fired a volley of shots, killing both men, had done nothing wrong. Both deceased men had their primary cause of death listed as “gunshot wounds” that were received from the responding officers. Upon their arrival, the officers intensified the situation rather than deescalating, leading to the deaths of the men.
Troike is now adding political retribution to his resume. His wife, Christina Neitzke-Troike, was recently elected mayor of Homer Glen. The village does not have a police department, and is policed by the Will County Sheriff’s Office. During the election, Neitzke-Troike had her opponent arrested for a bogus battery charge that was later thrown out. Dr. Darden called that situation “unacceptable” and said that someone running for public office should never have to be afraid of being arrested under false pretenses.
Activist Wayland Johnson, who grew up in Robbins, said that he works with young people to get them to respect the police. He said that situations like this make him “look like a fool,” when the police are being rewarded for their bad behavior. The community is calling on the Sheriff’s office to FIRE Troike and put an end to hiring unethical, racist cops.
Local Activists say Will County Sheriff Commander is a Bad Cop; Call for His Firing
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