Retired suburban police chief calls on Pritzker to make Illinois schools safer

PLAINFIELD, Ill. - A retired suburban police official is calling on Gov. JB Pritzker to appoint a school safety and training chief. He says a few other states have something similar — a person or office appointed by the governor to assist school districts and police departments to make schools safer.

The former Riverside police chief did this as a response to the Uvalde massacre.

"I probably was like most Americans, I watched that on TV from home and I was horrified and it was clearly a massacre," said Weitzel who, while watching coverage, didn’t see a clear chain of command and a lack of communication. "We work together with our neighboring police agencies all the time, but at times we don't do as well as we should."

Most departments and districts already train for something like an active shooter, and Tuesday FOX32 got an inside look at a Plainfield school.

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It is a scenario-based training that Plainfield police officers complete at least twice a year.

This week, they are practicing with the fire department and walking through different scenarios — including a Uvalde scenario.

Now, in a letter to the governor, he's asking for a cabinet level position to help keep our kids safe at public and private schools.

"I'm not saying take away from the local control. I'm saying it again enhance that and go beyond man like that position to answer straight to the governor straight to the legislators," said Weitzel.

He simply wants to streamline the resources for all schools — making it easier for them to make sure their properties are as safe as they can be.

FOX 32 reached out to the governor's office for a response to the request and have not heard back.