Things are shifting in Peoria County law enforcement.
Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy is leaving the office at the end of the month to take a law enforcement spot in neighboring Tazewell County. McCoy has been the Peoria County Sheriff for 15 years. He says the Sheriff’s Department has been succession planning for several years and is ready for the transition.
McCoy leaves office June 29th. His appointed successor, Jail Superintendent Brian Asbell, will be take the oath of office in Room 210 at the Peoria County Courthouse at 1:00p.m. the same day.
Asbell who has a two-decade long career in law enforcement, will fill out the 18-months remaining on McCoy’s term and will run for the office as a Republican in 2018.
Mccoy will drive up the road to Five-Points Washington later the same day he vacates the Peoria County Sheriff’s office and be sworn in as the next Chief of Police in Washington, Illinois.
But the move has sparked the interest of another long-time law-enforcement professional in Peoria County. Bartonville Police Chief Brian Fengel will officially announce his candidacy for Peoria County Sheriff this week.
Fengel who’s been the Bartonville Police Chief for 20 years, graduated from the FBI National Academy in 2000, is an adjunct professor at ICC and is also the first vice-president of the Illinois Chiefs of Police Association.
Fengel, a democrat, formal announces his intent to run for Peoria County Sheriff Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017 at 10:00 at Bartonville Village Hall.