Police Department's Gary Bolt Retiring After 29 Years

Gary Bolt, the Naperville Police Department’s deputy chief of police, is leaving after 29 years on the force. 

Word of Bolt’s retirement from the force came last week, when incoming police chief stated he would be dealing with a number of key retirements.

Bolt may be retiring from the force, but according to a story in the Naperville Sun, he will be joining retiring Police Chief David Dial at Aurora University. The paper stated both men would be working at the University, Dial in the criminal justice department, Bolt as the university’s director of campus public safety.

“Deputy Chief Bolt made a significant impact on public safety in Naperville,” Dial said in a news release. “For nearly three decades he served as a leader and role model in the department and community.  He leaves behind a legacy of dedication, integrity, and many other accomplishments.”

In 1983, Bolt began his career at the after working four years at the Westmont Police Department, according to the Naperville Police Department.

During his years on the force he served as an officer, as an evidence technician, firearm instructor, and a K-9 officer. He was Naperville’s second K-9 officer and the only K-9 officer to serve with a Rottweiler, the department said. In 1990 he was promoted to sergeant and five years later he was promoted to lieutenant and placed in command of the department’s traffic unit and assisted as a patrol division lieutenant.

He continued to rise through the ranks and in 1997 he became a watch commander and then in 2005 he became deputy chief of the patrol division. And, he ends his career as the deputy chief of police.

During his years of service he helped institute a number of new programs including the motorcycle patrol unit he started while with the traffic unit.  He also implemented the city’s first “Drive Safe, Drive Sober,” according to the police department. In 2001, he helped start a new community resource center within a neighborhood. The program continued until 2010.

Most recently Bolt lead the department’s investigation division, merging the department’s intelligence function with the department’s revamped crime analysis unit.