5 questions for Police Chief Brad Dixon: ‘We’re real people, just like everyone’

When sworn in on May 15 to lead some 250 employees of the Peoria Police Department, Brad Dixon expressed gratitude for the opportunity in general,  but particularly for community support.

“I am committed to strengthening that partnership every single day,” he said.

Along with community relations, Dixon will focus on reducing violence, especially by young Peorians, and staffing.

Born and raised in Peoria, a graduate of Richwoods High School, Dixon grew up playing stickball and working at Sheridan Nursery, which his family operated, plus getting up at 5:30 in the morning to help with his brother’s paper route. “I always worked,” he says.

After attending Illinois Central College, Dixon earned a B.A. and an M.B.A. at Western Illinois University, where he became the first in his family who graduated college.

Hired on March 26, 2001, Dixon progressed through the ranks, from officer and Sergeant to Captain and, for more than four years, Assistant Chief. Following the retirement of Police Chief Eric Echevarri, Dixon inherits good momentum in the department’s goals, with crime down and homicides halved since 2024.

Challenges remain, of course. Technology is a double-edged sword, for example. The department has dealt not only with ShotSpotter and drones, but body cameras, realizing they needed better batteries, and Narcan, which police found can expire after a while.

“Tech is weird,” he says. “More’s coming out, but it gets more expensive. It doesn’t make sense.”

As far as staffing, “diversity” may be a shunned term, but Dixon sees opportunities created with officers who look like the community they serve, “whether Hispanic or African American or women or Muslims…”

 

Donuts or bagels?

Bagels. I can’t get caught in uniform with a donut.

 

Is there anything in your police career you needed to learn  -- or unlearn?
How to talk to people, listening and not confronting, which doesn’t get you anywhere. Treating people with respect and dignity gets you so much further.

 

Do you have a go-to ‘escape’ from what must be a stressful job?

It’s an intense job. I lean on family, faith and fishing. But you never get away all the way. We’re exposed to a lot. Over the years there are things you never forget, not good: accidents, homicides.

We shouldn’t be put on pedestals, either. We’re real people with real problems, just like everyone.

 

How about a favorite TV show about police?

I can’t watch them. Well, there’s one, “Dateline,” that I see sometimes. Forensics interests me.

 

Do you have a little known talent, like wiggling your ears or dancing…?

I play hockey – at a decent level. Or, I did until an injury. And I don’t now; I’m too busy.