Tinley Park Appoints Two New Deputy Police Chiefs

TINLEY PARK, IL — The village of Tinley Park has appointed two new deputy police chiefs in town during the regular village board meeting held on Sept. 21.

During the meeting, the board appointed and swore in a new Deputy Police Chief of Operations and a Deputy Police Chief of Administration. The new operations chief is Lawrence Rafferty, and the new administration chief is now Thomas Tilton.

According to the village, Rafferty served the Cook County Sheriff's Police Department for over 28 years and spent 23 years in the detective division. He has been recognized multiple times for his criminal investigative work and is a 16-year member of the South Suburban Major Crimes TaskForce — including 6 years as the Commander of the homicide team, overseeing 85 investigators and 15 supervisors.

Rafferty also served as Commander/Acting Deputy Chief of the General Investigations Division, overseeing a $6 million budget, departmental training and the creation of various crime prevention units, village documents state. Over the course of his career, he has developed and implemented various policing initiatives and most recently, he served as the Deputy Chief of Police for a local municipality overseeing the day-to-day operations.

"I look forward so much to this opportunity, and I'm so happy to be here tonight," Rafferty said. "I left a wonderful, wonderful place, and hoping for great things here. I look forward to working with all of you — Chief Walsh, and the men and women of the Tinley Park Police Department."

Thomas Tilton served with the United States Secret Service for 26 years as a leader in law enforcement, security and investigative operations, according to the village. Tilton held various operational roles, where he was tasked with overseeing and managing numerous large-scale operations.

Most recently, Tilton has served for over 10 years as the Deputy Director of Operations for the Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security, overseeing tactical response operations within critical agency comprised of 134 municipalities, 30 townships, 5.4 million residents and 945 square miles of territory, according to the village.

"I want to thank all of you for the tremendously professional way the selection process was carried out," Tilton said. "I was very flattered to be considered, and I'm very thankful.

Other appointments that took place at the Sept. 21 meeting include Parker Bogdan and David Mills as maintenance technicians, Pamela Ardagh as administrative assistant to the police chief, and Michael Coleman as a building official.