Detective Lieutenant Daniel Pater of the Forest Park Police Department will be the next police chief, succeeding Ken Gross after he retires at the end of September.
Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins announced the Police Chief Designate would be Pater, who’s worked for the Forest Park Police Department for 20 years, in an Aug. 24 press release.
“Village leadership is confident in Pater’s ability to lead the department. He has demonstrated his commitment to policing practices that focus on transparency, training, education and safety,” Hoskins said in the release. “The village thanks Chief Gross for his service and leadership and looks forward to a smooth transition as Pater prepares to assume leadership of the Forest Park Police Department.”
“I’m excited to start a new journey and lead the police department,” Pater told the Review. “I really look forward to building partnerships and relationships with the residents of Forest Park. I look forward to leading our already established police department into the future.”
Pater said his aim for the police department is simple: “My goal is to make sure that my officers have everything they need to do their jobs on a daily basis and make sure the residents are protected and feel safe.”
He also aims to increase manpower — since the department is about five officers short of being fully staffed at 38.
“Manpower is definitely one of the best things that we can do going forward, trying to develop resources and be able to help our residents more when it comes to being able to be there.”
Hoskins told the Review that he knew he wanted to hire the next chief from within the Forest Park Police Department, and that Pater stood out.
“I’ve watched him distinguish himself over the last 4 or 5 years, particularly during COVID,” Hoskins said. “He’s a really solid performer. He’s well respected.”
Pater said, before he was announced as Chief Designate, he spoke with Hoskins, Village Administrator Rachell Entler and some of the village council members, plus forwarded his resume to them.
“I know sometimes fear can strike people if they’re bringing a chief in from the outside. Bringing someone up through the ranks and really being a leader from within, I think that helps settle everyone down,” Pater said. “I hope to be the leader that everyone wants to be, and everyone wants to work for.”
When asked if he interviewed anyone else for the position of police chief, Hoskins told the Review, “I read the police reports regularly. I have for the last 6 years, so I tend to know the strengths of the members of the police department. I have a lot of respect for Chief Designate Pater and a lot of other people do, so he was a natural choice.”
When asked about potential new training for the Forest Park Police Department after Police Chief Ken Gross and Deputy Chief Ken Gross let an ICE agent into a restricted area at village hall on July 30, Hoskins said he’s speaking with Pater about updating or reforming police department policies and training.
“In reference to the recent events, I would coordinate and speak with the mayor, and we can speak with village council members and coordinate a plan to figure out what we need to do to ensure transparency and accountability and make sure that, going forward, the residents feel safe,” Pater said, “and making sure that we’re doing our jobs to their entirety.”
About Daniel Pater
Pater served for 6 years in the United States Army and has a degree in public safety administration.
“We pretty much were doing active patrols, very similar to policing,” Pater said of his time in the army. “After going to school for a little bit, realizing that I could see myself giving back to the residents and really enjoying my time patrolling, I really wanted to get into law enforcement after that.”
Pater started with the Forest Park Police Department as a patrol officer. He then joined the department’s tactical response unit, which works with local patrol and investigative divisions to address crime patterns in the village.
He was sworn in as sergeant of the Forest Park Police Department in 2018 and, in Jan. 2023, was promoted to lieutenant and now runs the department’s investigations.
When asked if any successful investigations stick out to him in the past three years — including the recent arrest of two people who stole masoleum doors from local cemeteries — Pater said, “Every case matters to everyone. The mausoleum door theft is a major one right now, but to us it’s just as significant as someone being battered or a crime against a person.”
Pater has helped update the village’s emergency response plan and served as a use of force instructor, public information officer and on the Special Response Team — a counter drug unit that is also trained in hostage situations and containing barricaded subjects.