Joliet’s Interim Police Chief is now the permanent Police Chief. City Manager Jim Caparelli announced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting that Dawn Malec has officially been named as the permanent Police Chief for the City of Joliet. Malec is the first woman to ever hold the chief position in the Joliet Police Department. She began her career with the Joliet Police Department in 1994 as a patrol officer and rose through the ranks to sergeant in 2009 and lieutenant in 2014.

Malec earned a master’s degree in public safety administration from Lewis University, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Governors State University and an associate degree from Richard J. Daley College. She is also a 2013 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command program.