Joliet Police Department Pipes And Drums: 'We Are A Self-Funded Band'

JOLIET — With St. Patrick's Day less than a week away, this marks one of the busiest times of the year for the Joliet Police Department Pipes and Drums. Currently at 23 members strong, pipes and drums have become an integral part of the Joliet Police Department, bolstering the agency's image through community events, fund-raisers, public ceremonies and memorials.

Joliet Police Pipes and Drums have been around for 17 years. The unit was started in 2008 by Joliet Police Officer Rob Hall. Other original members include Sgt. David Wall, Officer David Blackmore, Sgt. Bradley Dubs and current Joliet police sergeant and agency spokesman Dwayne English.

Pipes and Drums include three Joliet police retirees, Larry Collins, James Ward and Fernando Urquidi. A short video from a band performance in Joliet is included in this article.

"He Kind Of Advocated For Starting The Band"

What gave Rob Hall — who is now known as emeritus pipe major — the idea for creating the Joliet Police Pipes and Drums?

"He was a bagpiper on his own for years," explained Joliet Police Pipes and Drums Major Patrick Kelly, who works as a crime scene evidence technician. "He kind of advocated for starting of the band and Chief (Fred) Hayes agreed to forming the band."

Considered "a merit-based unit," Kelly became the pipe major in 2019. He joined the band in 2009, one year after its formation.

Nowadays, Joliet Police Pipes and Drums typically meet once a week for two-hour practice sessions at the University of St. Francis campus "and the department has been so gracious and wonderful," Kelly said.

Kelly wanted everyone to know that the band's regular practice sessions are postponed if there are pressing community needs, such as responding to emergencies.

Last year, the band played at approximately 40 community events.

"We actually have to turn down quite a few requests," Kelly explained. "We're all active-duty officers."

"We Have Our Set Tunes And Kind Of Try To Stick To It"

During the last four years, Joliet police have performed in Champaign at the Illinois State Police academy's graduation ceremony honoring the cadets who are becoming certified police officers across the state.

Joliet police have performed at the law enforcement memorial event in Springfield, the Will County Law Enforcement Memorial held every May in downtown Joliet, the Kendall County Law Enforcement Memorial, and in Iowa City at the Iowa State Police Conference.

One of the organization's great accomplishments was performing in Washington, D.C. at the National Law Enforcement Memorial, Kelly noted.

'This month, pipes and drums have made public appearances at the St. Baldrick's Foundation event at Heroes & Legends West in Joliet and Irish Fest at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Minooka. They will perform on Wednesday night inside the Rialto Square Theatre for the annual "Shamrockin' Good Time." They play Friday, Saturday and Sunday at area pub crawls in Joliet and around Morris.

On St. Patrick's Day, the band will perform at the Chicago Street Pub in downtown Joliet.

"We do about an hour a spot," Kelly explained. "We have our set tunes and kind of try to stick to it because of the chaos of the day."

Two crowd favorites often include "Farewell to Camraw" and "The Bells of Dunblane." The final song during their shows is often "Amazing Grace."

"For the majority of the year, what we do is ceremonial," Kelly pointed out. "We just want to be a positive influence for the city and the police department and honor our brothers and sisters in the police department."

"It's Like Fighting An Octopus"

Before joining the pipes and drums, Kelly explained, "I started with the honor guard, and I liked the honor guard."

One of the key reasons why Kelly succeeded Hall, upon his retirement, is because Kelly enjoys the aspect of being a public servant "and being of mostly Irish descent, I enjoy the bagpipes."

However, Joliet police officers do not need to be of Irish descent to join the band.

"We're fairly diverse," Kelly explained. The band consists of Joliet police officers who are African-American, Hispanic, Croatian and Polish.

"We're all over the place," Kelly said.

Joliet Patch asked if learning to play bagpipes is difficult.

"Dear Jesus, yes!" Kelly exclaimed. "I had no musical experience coming into it. You learn on a chanter little pipe. It's like fighting an octopus. It's not like a saxophone or clarinet in essence. You're breathing into this bag and forcing the air out of these four different pipes to create the great Highland bag pipe."

"We Have A Fairly High Wash Out Rate"

The Joliet Police Department is authorized to have around 300 sworn members "and when we developed as a band, the goal was 10 percent of sworn members," Kelly explained. "We're close to that 10 percent rule."

Righ now, the band consists of 23 members, and most newcomers undergo a learning period of six months to a year, before they become an official member of the band, Kelly explained.

"We have a fairly high wash out rate," Kelly pointed out. "The amount of dedication and time it takes to learn, and a large majority of events, (members) do that on their own time or have to take time off."

Sgt. Dwayne English, one of the original band members, echoed Kelly's sentiments.

"It takes a certain amount of dedication to be a police officer, but to take on the added responsibilities with regular practices and performance scheduling, I would tend to believe that some of the most dedicated people in the department participate in pipe band," English said.

Also, the Joliet taxpayers are not bank rolling the band, either.

"We are a self-funded band," Kelly stressed. "The department gives us our initial full-dress uniforms to have for practices, but we pay for our own musical equipment.

"Most people who join with the band, stay with the band," Kelly continued. "I've been in the band for 15 years. I would love for us to play for the Washington, D.C. Law Enforcement Memorial in 2026. And my ultimate hope is the 85th anniversary of D-Day Invasion, to play on the beaches of Normandy in 2029, but that will take some planning."

According to Kelly, "all the traveling by the band" comes from fund-raising," therefore, the band will need to do "some serious fund-raising" before obtaining "the blessing of the department" to plan an overseas trip to Normandy, France, come 2029.

Joliet Police Pipes and Drums is not the only — but it is one of the only — law enforcement-exclusive bands in the Midwest.

The Chicago Police Department has its own band, and "in northern Illinois, there are quite a few pipe bands around, but in Iowa, according to them, there is not a public service pipes band in the state," Kelly remarked.

History of Joliet Police Pipes and Drums

The Joliet Police Pipes & Drums is a group of Joliet Police Department members, both active and retired, who have come together to represent the department in the greater Will County area through traditional bagpipe music.

The band started in the summer of 2008 with three pipers and two drummers. The pipers learned to play under the direction of Emeritus Pipe Major Rob Hall, and the drummers learned to play under the direction of Drum Sergeant Dwayne English. The band made its debut performance at the Will County Law Enforcement Memorial in downtown Joliet on May 9, 2009. During 2009 the band performed at 11 engagements.