End of an era: Van Hook leaves legacy of greatness behind as O’Fallon police chief

Innovative. Hard Working. Professional. Public-focused.

Many kind things were said about outgoing Director of Public Safety Eric Van Hook in the weeks leading up to his retirement Nov. 11. He spent eight years in the top spot and overall had marked 30 years in police work.

As he packed up boxes on his last day, overwhelmed by all the heartfelt well-wishes expressed, Van Hook reflected on a lengthy career doing what he loved to do — engage with the public and honor his duties as a law enforcement officer.

“This entire week has been a whirlwind,” he said. “I have received many kind sentiments and it’s nice to get compliments. I have many good neighbors.”

While the gratitude is appreciated, Van Hook is the first to acknowledge he did not achieve anything on his own. It was teamwork with the city, his force, his family, and those who went before that he learned from and applied to his job.

“I get a lot of credit but It’s impossible for one person to accomplish all that on his own,” he said. “The council, commission, Leah (Wilson, administrative assistant) and Misty (McDonald, deputy city clerk), the leadership team, have been invaluable. I have the utmost respect for them.”

His outlook has always been one of collaboration, communication, and compassion.

Developing the Explorers program was important to Van Hook.

“We worked hard to get people to help, and to be able to grow our own Explorers was an additional part of our success,” he said.

Van Hook said support at home is integral to an officer’s well-being and family life makes a difference in officers performing their job at a high level.

“It’s paramount,” he said. “The family’s paying a price for not having you at home. You have to have a balance between the mental and the physical. Your mind has to be in the right place, so you can make big decisions.”

A nonstop parade of people thanking him had begun after Van Hook’s resignation letter was read at the O’Fallon City Council meeting Oct. 4.

“He’s one of the best we’ve ever had,” Mayor Herb Roach commented that night.

While honoring him at the council meeting Nov. 1, Roach said Van Hook had always made the families and businesses of O’Fallon a priority.

City Administrator Walter Denton described him as an innovative problem solver.

On this final day, the mayor unveiled a sign and plaque dedicating the community room at the Public Safety Building in his honor, for his “dedication to excellence”: The Chief Eric Van Hook Community Room.

“Chief Van Hook has shown a commitment to community engagement, officer/employee wellness and safety, increasing diversity in the organization, and improving relationships with all of community. He is a visionary who leads by example. We will miss his leadership, his friendship, his humility, his vision, and his humor,” Roach said.

‘I found my calling’

The expansive Public Safety Building — where a bustling Metro East Communications Command directs all the 911 calls in Fairview Heights, Shiloh, and O’Fallon — is an example of the city’s growth and a symbol of his efforts to build one of the most respected teams of first responders, police officers, firefighters, and dispatchers in the state.

Additionally, Van Hook oversaw the transition from individual call centers to a larger operation.

And it’s a long way from the small police department on Lincoln Avenue where he started as an eager young patrolman back on Aug. 20, 1990.

It’s the only career he had envisioned for himself after a neighborhood cop in his Collinsville hometown had made such an impression on him as a youth.

“We would walk with him in the neighborhood. He was very kind and would entertain whatever silly questions we would ask. I was about 10 years old and extremely curious. At an early age, I found my calling,” Van Hook said.

He attended the 10-week police academy at Belleville Area College — now Southwestern Illinois College — and then joined about 30 officers on the force.

His first superior, Don Slazinik, taught him the importance of community, he said.

“He was a teacher by trade. He went outside the box,” he said.

Undercover work, DARE, community building

Slazinik guided Van Hook from being an undercover narcotics cop to serving parents and teenagers as a DARE officer.

“I could have grown whatever beard I could have to go undercover but making that decision to become a DARE officer instead made a huge difference. I was able to build relationships with schools, students, and parents. I found out one of the best assets to being a police officer is outreach,” he said.

“One of our most successful things as a department is that we’ve been able to reach out and build community,” he said. “Education first. Our students are our most precious asset. We need to keep them safe.”

Communication was another important factor to success.

“It’s really important to release information rapidly,” Van Hook said.

He was focused on having a presence in neighborhoods before people had ever heard of “community policing” — Coffee with a Cop, pop-up barbecues, Night to Unite in the community park and more activities.

Over the years, Van Hook served in many roles, including detective, detective sergeant, lieutenant, and captain before becoming police chief in Collinsville in September 2012. After serving for 14 months, he returned to O’Fallon as the director of public safety and police chief.

Long list of awards, Major Case Squad, mass shooting prep

The awards are impressive: In 2019, he was selected as the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police “Police Chief of the Year.” Over the years, he has been an Officer of the Year, and received the Medal of Merit, the Southern Illinois Chiefs of Police Unit Citation Award, and multiple chief’s commendations for community service.

In his work with the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis, he had advanced through the ranks to deputy commander.

Roach singled out some of the things he noticed while working with Van Hook, first as an alderman and then as mayor.

“If you look back over the past five years, our country has been confronted with some major items that impact the safety and well-being of all of us. When the spike in mass shootings began in 2017, our Public Safety Department under Chief Van Hook’s leadership went to churches and other locations to help them plan on how to prevent and/or limit casualties if something like that occurred. It was so well-received that other communities asked if he would do it in their cities,” he said.

COVID, difficult decision to retire

In 2020, when COVID-19 became the main storyline, the chief came through again.

“He led the effort to educate our community on the virus by holding group meetings and sending out regular e-mails on the latest developments to our schools, churches, organizations, and businesses on what types of precautions should be considered as we dealt with the tragic COVID-19 virus,” the mayor said.

In his resignation letter announcing his retirement, he wrote: “The decision to retire has been exceedingly difficult because I love what I do, I love this department and this city. But it’s time to move on to the next chapter of my life.”

He set a standard of excellence for those that follow, the mayor said.

Van Hook also serves on the board of several civic and charitable organizations. He has been a Rotarian for 15 years and will continue that commitment.

The Next Chapter

He and his wife, Laura, plan to stay in O’Fallon. They have four grown children. They enjoy walking and spending time with family.

“We’re one of those couples who like to spend a lot of time together,” he said.

He likes to tinker and build things, and he does play golf, too.

“I’m not great at it,” he said.

And as for his successor, Van Hook wished Kirk Brueggeman well.

“He is going to be amazing,” he said.

All in all, the possibilities are wide open as Van Hook moves forward, he said.

“I want to do so many things.”