Retired police chief urges Pritzker to appoint school safety czar

School building doors Photo credit Getty Images

By Nancy Harty

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A retired suburban police official is calling on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to appoint a school safety and training chief in an effort to prevent the next school shooting.

Retired Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel says he’s not looking to fill the post himself but he believes the governor’s office needs a point person on school safety.

“Everything from physical security for the building to personnel they hire to training to equipment to target-hardening,” Weitzel said Tuesday.

He says his police department never had someone from state government run compliance checks on their written plans and drills, which are required by law. The shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas got him thinking, he said.

“These kids were slaughtered, it was a massacre,” he said.

Weitzel said the tragedy prompted him to write a letter to the Pritzker Administration.

Weitzel says he supports local control but wants to make sure districts are doing what’s required of them to address potential shootings.

WBBM Newsradio has reached out to Pritzker’s office for a response.