A 21-year law enforcement veteran just landed a seat on the St. Charles Board of Fire and Police Commission, giving the body that hires, promotes, and disciplines sworn personnel something it desperately needs: someone who actually knows the job.
Craig Campbell, currently Deputy Chief of Police at Elgin Community College, was appointed by Mayor Clint Hull and approved by the City Council on Oct. 19, according to Shaw Local. His term runs through April 30, 2027. He replaces Mary Jo Knipp on the five-member board.
This matters because the Board of Fire and Police Commission isn't a ceremonial post. It recruits and appoints candidates to fill vacancies in the St. Charles Police and Fire Departments, sets the selection process for promotions, and conducts disciplinary hearings for sworn personnel. In other words, it's the body that decides whether a cop accused of misconduct faces consequences or gets a pass — and whether the people wearing the badge are qualified to begin with. Putting a career professional in that seat, rather than a political activist, is a straightforward proposition: real oversight requires people who understand the work.
Both Police Chief Dan Likens and Fire Chief Jeremy Mauthe recommended Campbell after his interview, Shaw Local reported. Hull, who previously worked with Campbell as a prosecutor and judge, praised his character and called him "an excellent fit."
Campbell's resume backs that up. He's spent nearly eight years at Elgin Community College. Before that, he served across multiple divisions of the Kane County Sheriff's Office — patrol investigations, warrants, professional standards, and administration. He helped create and command the Kane County Accident Reconstruction Team, co-led a homicide investigation team, and built a professional development program. Hull cited his extensive experience in personnel management, budgeting, and department operations.
Campbell joins Chair Patrick Reed, Robert Rooney, Wedge Lazenby, and Julie Trevarthen-Escarcida on the commission.
Notably absent from the Shaw Local report: any mention of opposition to Campbell's appointment. No activist groups quoted, no dissenting council votes, no progressive organizations pushing back. That silence is telling. In cities across the country, police oversight boards have become playgrounds for ideologues who've never worn a badge but are eager to dismantle the institutions they're tasked with overseeing. St. Charles just went the other direction — and nobody on the record objected.
The Chicago Sun-Times, for its part, was busy covering a completely different story about British police dogs trained to sniff out date-rape drugs — a worthwhile subject, but one that underscores how little attention local outlets are paying to who actually sits on the boards governing police accountability in Illinois communities.
The open question: whether Campbell's appointment signals a durable shift toward experience-based oversight in St. Charles, or whether it's a one-off that gets reversed the next time the political winds shift.
