Rock Falls police chief recognized for earning voluntary ILACP certification

ROCK FALLS — Rock Falls Police Chief Dave Pilgrim recently brought the total number of active certified police chiefs in Illinois to 63.

“We all know that there’s no playbook when you become a chief,” Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Kenny Winslow said during the Rock Falls City Council’s Oct. 3 meeting. “There’s not a ‘how-to.’ There’s not a book that’ll tell you how to do this, how to do different things.”

The City Council and Winslow recognized Pilgrim during Tuesday’s meeting, with Winslow presenting a plaque to Pilgrim.

The certification process consists of a “rigorous written exam” and an oral interview in front of a panel of professionals with 20-plus years of experience as chiefs, Winslow said. It’s a level of scrutiny not every chief chooses to undertake, he said.

“Not everybody passes the process,” Winslow said. “In fact, it’s not unusual for us to have to tell a chief, ‘Sorry, you didn’t make it.’”

The Voluntary Police Chief Certification Program was launched in late 1998 with a goal of encouraging continuous professional growth and educational development of police chiefs across the state, according to the ILACP. Those who earn certification must recertify every five years, which requires a chief to have accrued additional hours of continuing education and/or professional development and engagement in community and/or professional organizations.

Since the program’s creation, 169 chiefs have been certified, including Pilgrim, Winslow said. There were 676 local police departments in Illinois in 2018, according to a census of state and local law enforcement agencies published by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics in October 2022.

“To me, it’s just a personal accomplishment,” Pilgrim said following the council meeting. “It was a goal that I set when I became chief to just kind of bolster my credentials. It’s not required; it’s no additional pay or anything. It was just something to help me know that I meet all these extra requirements.”

Pilgrim joined the Rock Falls Police Department in 2001. He was named acting chief in November 2020, and officially became chief in February 2021.

“Hopefully it gives the community a sense of confidence that the person that the City Council picked for the job has all the credentials and demonstrates that,” Pilgrim said when asked what his certification means for the community and his officers. “Hopefully for the officers, same thing – that they look at that as a confidence builder that I’m capable of doing the job.”