MPD Chief Barker announces plans to retire
Story by Downtown Macomb
Subhead: Mayor to appoint Lt. Jerel Jones as new MPD Chief
MACOMB Macomb Police Chief Curt Barker announced today that he will be retiring as Chief of Police effective May 3, 2021.
Barker, a graduate of Western Illinois University and a U.S. Army veteran, has served as a member of the Macomb Police Department for over 27 years, 12 of those years as Chief. “I am proud to have been able to serve the citizens of Macomb as a police officer and as their Chief,” said Chief Barker. “And am proud of the women and men of the Macomb Police Department, as they move into the future,” Barker added.
Courtesy photo
For the first time in Macomb s long history, the city will have a Black police chief.
Mayor Mike Inman said he will appoint Jerel Jones to the position. The mayor will ask the city council on Tuesday, February 16, to approve appointing Jones as Transitional Police Chief beginning March 1. Jones would then take over the department on May 3.
Jones is a lieutenant at the McDonough County Sheriff s Department. He joined the sheriff s department after serving as a lieutenant for the Bradley University Police Department in Peoria. Prior to that he worked for the Office of Public Safety at Western Illinois University.