Flossmoor Appoints New Police Chief

FLOSSMOOR, IL — Flossmoor trustees on Monday appointed the Village's new police chief.

At its meeting on Monday, Feb. 17, the Flossmoor Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Carl Estelle as the Village’s Police Chief. Estelle has been serving Flossmoor as its Director of Police Services since August 2024. In Flossmoor, the position of Police Chief is a mayoral appointment with a confirming vote by the Board of Trustees.

“Mr. Estelle adds years of leadership and policing experience to our Village,” said Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson. “I have the utmost faith in his ability to move the Police Department forward, improving efficiencies and technologies, and working with residents so that Flossmoor may continue to be one of the safest and most desirable communities in Chicagoland.”

Estelle, a Flossmoor resident since 2013, took the oath of office at Monday’s meeting. He has more than 30 years of leadership in law enforcement and management. Before joining the Flossmoor Police Department, he served as the City Administrator of Country Club Hills and the Director of Security Operations and Compliance for the City Colleges of Chicago Safety and Security Department.

Estelle has decades of progressive experience in law enforcement, community policing, and collaborative public safety practices, the Village said. His experience includes several years as an investigator and as the supervisor of investigations. Specifically, he served six years as Captain of Police for the city of East Palo Alto, Calif. Prior to that, he had served 11 years as the Special Agent Supervisor for the California Department of Justice, where he was commander of the security detail for the state’s Attorney General, as well as the task force commander responsible for directing criminal investigations. His law-enforcement career began as a police officer for the city of Oakland, Calif., where he spent more than a decade patrolling neighborhoods and working in the Special Duty Unit and with the Drug Enforcement Agency Task Force.

Since joining Flossmoor in August as its Director of Police Services, Estelle has been focused on completing many department goals, including filling staff vacancies, implementing new technology, and managing department capital projects, in addition to community outreach with neighborhoods and schools, special operational planning for Village events, and the recruitment for and evaluation of the Police Department. In addition, he completed an out-of-state reciprocity program through the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. This training consisted of a 118-hour Law for Police online module, a four-hour mandatory firearm class, and the law enforcement equivalency exam. Estelle’s credentials from California were verified. Meeting these conditions of reciprocity allows for Estelle to hold a sworn police position in the State of Illinois.

"Mr. Estelle is a positive addition to our team and after having successfully completed the conditions to receive reciprocity from the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, I was pleased to recommend that the Mayor appoint him Police Chief," says Bridget Wachtel, Village Manager.

Estelle said his current priorities for the Flossmoor Police Department as Chief include:

• Improving community policing and public trust
• Reducing crime and enhancing public safety
• Improving traffic safety and enforcement
• Modernizing technology
• Improving recruitment and advertising
• Enhancing school safety programs
• Increasing public engagement
• Seeking funding and grants

“I am truly honored to serve as your new Police Chief,” he says. “I want to express my sincere gratitude to the Board who entrust me with this responsibility, to the dedicated men and women of the Flossmoor Police Department for their service and commitment, and to the residents for the trust you place in us every day. My focus will be on community engagement, proactive crime prevention and officer well-being, as a strong Police Department is built upon the support of its officers and the community it serves.”

Additional information about Estelle

Estelle served six years as Captain of Police for the city of East Palo Alto, Calif., where he helped to dramatically reduce crime and acts of violence while effectively addressing risk-management issues and enhancing the Police Department’s use of technology. Prior to that, he had served 11 years as the Special Agent Supervisor for the California Department of Justice. Depending on the investigation, he has supervised anywhere from 15 to 200 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers. His law-enforcement career began as a Police Officer for the city of Oakland, Calif. In 2013, Estelle moved with his family to Flossmoor. He served as the Assistant Director of Security at Kennedy King College in Chicago, supervising 130 employees from 2017-19 until he was promoted to the position of Director of Security Operations and Compliance for the City Colleges of Chicago Safety and Security Department. For City Colleges, Estelle managed security for seven campuses and five satellite locations. In 2020, he accepted the position of City Administrator for Country Club Hills, where he managed city services for 16,000+ residents.

In these previous positions, Estelle was known as a community builder: he was able to create trusted partnerships with members of the community as he developed and outlined new strategies, improving the quality of life for those he served. He has also provided implicit bias, procedural justice, and restorative justice training for different organizations and has led sessions at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference.

Estelle is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va. This prestigious program included advanced leadership and communications training, as well as fitness challenges for participants. Throughout his law-enforcement career, Estelle received numerous awards from the FBI, DEA, US Customs and Border Protection, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, the International Narcotics Officers Association, the Western States Information Network and the United States Attorney's Office.