Oakbrook Terrace chief put on leave after officers’ complaints
The Oakbrook Terrace police chief and deputy chief have been put on administrative leave after officers declared they have no confidence in their leadership.
Mayor Paul Esposito took the action Wednesday, according to a police employee who read a statement to a reporter Friday. Esposito could not be reached for comment.
Chief Casey Calvello started working for Oakbrook Terrace in 2013. He took over as chief in 2019. Before that, he worked for the Oak Brook Police Department for 24 years.
Deputy Chief David Clark has been with the department since 2006.
Tuesday night, some officers presented the no-confidence vote to the city council. One said that due to how Calvello and Clark manage the department, employees are miserable and there is low morale, leading to high turnover. They asked the council to investigate.
Calvello and Clark were sued in 2024 by Officer Victoria Johnson. The suit charges illegal discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment/hostile work environment, violation of the state Whistleblower Act and retaliatory discharge.
The lawsuit said after 10 years on the job, she made a complaint about her supervising sergeant, saying he had made sexual comments and sexually harassed her. She also complained about the behavior of male officers, saying some slept on duty in their police cars and would shut off GPS trackers so they could not be located.
In the lawsuit, Johnson said Calvello then told her if she continued to complain, she would be subjected to discipline and retaliation. Calvello compared her to Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who received money to stay silent about her involvement with President Donald Trump before he ran for president.
The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Johnson was disciplined differently than male officers for similar infractions of policy and procedures. It states the city fired her in February 2022 and that city officials opposed her request for unemployment payments by falsely stating she was receiving a pension.
A union arbitrator ruled she was unjustly fired and reinstated her in 2023. Johnson contends, in the suit, that the city then retaliated by making her re-attend a 14-week police training academy, even though she was still a certified officer.
The lawsuit, filed in DuPage County Circuit Court in May 2024, is pending. The next court date is March 17.
Johnson, Calvello and Clark could not be reached for comment on Friday.
In 2023, the department had the equivalent of 20 full-time officers, according to the city’s annual financial report.