Former Chicago Police Department officer selected to replace Copley as chief of police

QUINCY — The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners selected Jonathan Lewin as its chief of police during a meeting Monday morning at City Hall.

Lewin, a 28-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, was selected ahead of Shannon Pilkington, deputy chief of operations with the Quincy Police Department, and Adam Yates, deputy chief of administrative services with the Quincy Police Department.

Lewin’s name will be presented to the Quincy City Council at its 7 o’clock meeting tonight. 

The three candidates participated in a two-day interview process last week. They met with staff and participated in a community forum on Thursday, then were interviewed by the fire and police commissioners (Barry Cheyne, Steve Meckes and Mike McLaughlin) as well as a five-person stakeholder group (Mayor Mike Troup, aldermen Mike Rein and Jack Holtschlag, Angela Caldwell and Julie Bonansinga) on Friday.

The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police conducted a day-long assessment April 9 in Quincy with the finalists. Assessors from the IACP were:

• Ed Wojcicki, executive director of the IACP;
• Kenny Winslow, deputy executive director of the IACP and recently retired chief of police in Springfield; 
• Jerel Jones, chief of police in Macomb;
• Darren Gault, chief of police in Moline.

Lewin will replace Rob Copley, who will retire Friday, May 6 after 42 years with the Quincy Police Department and 18 as the chief of police.

Lewin retired from the Chicago Police Department in January 2020. He has worked since May 2020 as the public safety advisor for the First Responder Network, a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Commerce in Reston, Va.

Born and raised in Chicago, Lewin served as a board member and past chair of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police Law Enforcement Information Technology Section. He was the Major Cities Chiefs of Police representative on DHS SAFECOM and FirstNet’s Public Safety Advisory Council. 

Lewin now serves on the IACP CJIS Committee and its technology guide working group. He was named one of 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers selected by Government Technology Magazine in 2019. He was named Technology Champion of the Year by NOBLE (the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives) in 2019.

He served as chief of the bureau of technical services with the Chicago Police Department from April 2017 until he retired in January 2020. Lewin was in charge of virtually all of the department’s law enforcement technology, including everything from body-worn cameras and surveillance equipment to gunfire-detection systems and crime-predictive technology.

He previously served as the deputy chief of technology and records for two years, and he was the managing deputy director for public safety information technology with the Chicago Police Department from 2005-15.

Lewin was hired as a police officer for the CPD in 1991 and was promoted to sergeant in 1996.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in administration of justice at Southern Illinois University, a master’s degree in public policy at Northwestern University and a master’s degree in security studies at the Naval Postgraduate School. 

This story will be updated.