Martin is ‘coming home,’ he says as he’s sworn in as Mendota police chief

Mendota’s new police chief is a city native who said he intends for the police department to be his last professional stop.

Jason Martin was sworn in as top cop Monday at the Mendota City Council meeting. His hiring was approved unanimously earlier in the month. Martin is fresh off a stint as undersheriff for the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s so to speak like coming home,” Martin said, “coming home to finish up my career.”

Martin is a 1993 graduate of Mendota High School who attended Illinois Valley Community College. He began his law enforcement career in Plano and, in 1998, joined the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office.

Notably, the oath of office was administered by his elder brother, La Salle County Circuit Judge Todd L. Martin. Younger brother Brad Martin presently serves with the Mendota Police Department.

Martin’s first official act was to welcome a new patrol officer. Deven Guelde, who was sworn in by fire and police commissioner Billy Kobilsek, joins the department following a long stint as a military police officer in the U.S. Army and leaves in May for the police academy.

“My hope is to be behind the wheel by the end of this year,” he said, “I have a lot of unlearning to do from the military police world.”