Crime & Safety

Joliet Police Chief to Retire Next Month

Mike Trafton, 50, said he needs to "decompress" from the pressures of the job. He is the third top administrator to announce plans to leave in the last two months.

Joliet Police Chief Mike Trafton is calling it quits after just two years in the top job, making him the third top city official to announce his departure this summer.

Trafton notified staff members Wednesday morning of his decision to retire next month.

“It's time," Trafton said. "I have 28 years in, I'm 50 years old -- police officers typically only live until 58."

Trafton said he and his wife have been discussing the idea of his retirement since the beginning of the year. The stress of the job takes its toll, especially when you're always on call and confronted with particularly gruesome crimes, such as the Hickory Street murders, he said.

Technically, Trafton's run will end in late September but unused vacation time will allow him to depart in mid-August, he said.

His departure comes on the heels of Joliet City Manager Tom Thanas' announcement that he is leaving his post once a successor can be found and Assistant City Manager Ben Benson's appointment as the new city administrator for Lockport.

Trafton said the nice thing about retiring at such a young age is the variety of options he has for the future. He might join as a smaller department as police chief -- former Joliet Chief Fred Hayes did that when he became chief of the Elwood Police Department -- if the opportunity arose or he could teach, he said.

The latter is an idea that's always appealed to him, he said, and law enforcement is becoming a career in which a college degree is becoming more important.

He won't be leaving the area, however. He and is wife have three daughters -- the oldest is a teacher in Joliet, the second a sophomore at Marquette University and the youngest a senior at Joliet Catholic Academy.

And while he might be interested in making a run for political office, he has no desire to succeed retiring Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas.

“That would be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire,” he said.

Looking back on his career, Trafton said he has no regrets about climbing the department ladder and eventually landing the top job, but he said the most fun he had as a police officer was he when he was a narcotics sergeant. That was a job that was not only exciting, but also rewarding because you followed a case from beginning to end and got to "put the bad guy away."

"No, I don't have any regrets," he said. "I love this place and the people here."


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