Herron Served as Woodridge Transformed

Woodridge Police Chief Steve Herron will retire Friday after serving in the for 38 years, including eight as chief. 

Herron began to serve Woodridge 14 years after the village was incorporated. Throughout his tenure, he saw Woodridge transform from a small veterans' community to the diverse, 30,000-population municipality it is today. 

Herron went to Hinsdale South High School, working at a gas station part-time. His first ambition was to be an entrepreneur and to eventually own a gas station in Hinsdale. After the oil embargo came through, he said, “I decided the business world was not the right world for me.”

He was also interested in law enforcement and, knowing those who lived in Woodridge, became a volunteer cadet with the . He never left. 

“It’s a great community with really great people,” he said.

There were no stoplights at the time, he said. Woodridge had a very prominent veteran population. There were just a few stores at 75th Street and Janes Avenue. There were residential burglaries and domestic squabbles, he said.

As Woodridge grew to include more people and more multifamily living in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the crimes changed. More businesses meant more retail theft, and the police worked with business owners to address the threat. 

Woodridge started having more problems with gangs in the 1990’s. Gang members sold drugs, there were gang turf squabbles, and there was a sense that people did not have confidence in the police, he said. Residents felt it wasn’t safe to walk down the street.  

“If people don’t trust the police, that’s a problem,” Herron said. “We had to get ourselves known in the area.”

The and police decided to be proactive to address its gang infestation, he said, changing building codes, making building managers more accountable and starting the . 

Police officers went door-to-door to talk with the residents, even setting up tables outside to hand out items and make their presence known.

Working with other agencies, Woodridge police took many of the major players away in one day in the mid-1990's, he said. 

Woodridge is now used as an example in publications highlighting law enforcement and community policing, he said, as a model for how to solve such problems.

Woodridge still faces challenges, but it’s come a long way. Foot traffic in areas such as 83rd Street and Janes Avenue is evidence of the village's success, Herron said. It took a combined effort between the village, something other municipalities struggle with, he said. 

Herron will continue to serve after his retirement.

He’s the treasurer for the DuPage County Chiefs of Police. He also plans to volunteer with the DuPage County Emergency Telephone Systems Board as DuPage County rolls out an interoperable radio system that will improve communication between municipalities in DuPage and Cook County, state police and other municipalities with a similar system.

Heron will continue woodturning and carving, as well as photography. He has a woodshop in his home and goes to art shows with his wife, who does glass work.

Looking back, he’s most proud of the group of people he leaves behind.

“When you can leave the community knowing that when someone calls 911, they’ll get the best qualified person to get the call, handle the call, respond and finish it up when it’s completed, you can’t ask for anything better than that.”