Investigation finds Northfield police officer sent porn to colleagues, entered bogus nicknames in database for 20 years

A Northfield police officer facing an internal misconduct investigation co-signed a retirement agreement with the Village of Northfield over the summer.

In a written statement statement read during a Village Board meeting on Oct. 10, Interim Village Manager Tim Frenzer detailed the investigation and the allegations, which include the digital sharing of pornographic images with colleagues while on duty and the falsification of names entered into a police database.

A public-records request from The Record revealed the now-retired Northfield officer is Sgt. Kevin Tierney, a 23-year veteran of the department who is an elected police commissioner in west-suburban Glendale Heights and, as of Oct. 10, a deputy for the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office.

According to village documents, an investigation into the police department and multiple village employees began in April and Tierney’s related retirement was made official in July. The Village of Northfield fulfilled The Record’s public-records request related to Tierney on Oct. 10, the same day that the Village released its statement regarding the investigation.

The investigation began April 12 after a fellow officer filed a grievance, Frenzer said. The Village brought in law firm Hervas, Condon & Bersani to lead an independent investigation into numerous allegations of misconduct listed in the complaint.

That investigation, according to Frenzer, found that two officers, one of whom was Tierney, “shared sexually explicit images while at work with subordinates on their cell phone.” A charge that reportedly violates the department’s “general orders,” including workplace harassment, displaying sexually offensive materials, and “discretion to be exercised while using personal cellular phones at work.”

The other officer, who was suspended for five days, shared one explicit photo, according to a summary of the investigation.

The Village declined to provide more information on the sexually explicit images, but according to a summary of complaint obtained by The Record, Tierney sent the pornographic images via text message and Facebook messenger to his colleagues while on and off duty and displayed the images and videos during the department’s roll call. Tierney admitted to sending the images, according to his retirement agreement, which The Record also acquired through a public-records request.

Tierney also admitted in the agreement to “hav(ing) falsified nicknames in the I-CLEAR system,” or Citizen and Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting, an official law enforcement database.

The Village of Northfield provided The Record with more than 100 nicknames entered by Tierney that investigators believe were falsified over a 20-year period — between 2003-2023. The nicknames include everything from initials to insults, such as B.O. Brian and Huge as Heck.

Many other nicknames — such as Johnny Meesokordia, Juanajuato and Droopy Smurf — are difficult to decipher, and Village spokesperson Glenn Harston II said investigators “didn’t feel it was a good use of resources to go name by name and try to confirm with the arrestee (the nickname’s meaning or validity). … (But) they are not something that should be put into the system.”

The complaint alleged that some of Tierney’s nicknames were racist and generally prejudiced; however, Harston II said investigators could not substantiate those claims.

Investigators identified other allegations made in the complaint as “unfounded.” They include: Tierney discriminating against another department employee “based on a disability”; an unnamed officer “conduct(ing) investigations irregularly and against superiors for spying on personnel”; and an unnamed officer violating HIPAA and giving “unfair treatment among officers and uneven discipline for tardiness.”

Even more accusations made by the complainant remain under investigation, according to Frenzer, who said the Village could not yet provide details on those claims.

“The Village of Northfield is committed to transparency and accountability in addressing these matters and we will provide additional information as its review of this matter proceeds,” Frenzer said in the statement. “We will also take all necessary steps to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.”

Tierney was a 23-year employee of the Northfield Police Department. He ascended to the role of corporal and then in 2018 made sergeant. He was the subject of at least three other internal investigations since 2016, according to Northfield documents that The Record obtained through a public-records request.

Other records requests The Record made related to this investigation have yet to be fulfilled.

In all three, Tierney escaped discipline. In 2017, a complainant said that during a traffic stop they were asked to exit his vehicle. When the individual asked why, according to the complaint, Tierney threatened to break the car’s window with his baton, entered the vehicle, pointed a taser at the subject’s head and slapped a cellphone out of the subject’s hands.

The internal investigation — conducted by then Deputy Chief Claude Casaletto and overseen by Chief William Lustig — exonerated Tierney, saying “there was no basis for the complaint” and that Tierney followed department procedures when he requested that the subject exit the vehicle. The investigation findings do not dispute — or reference — Tierney’s other actions.

Two other complaints against Tierney — one for allegedly lying about confiscated pills in 2019 and another for a reportedly over-aggressive traffic stop in 2021 — were determined to be unfounded.

Tierney’s retirement agreement, which was executed on July 21 by Northfield Acting Village Manager Steve Noble, protects the Village of Northfield from any litigation from Tierney, while Tierney agreed to the leave the department amid the open misconduct investigation and before disciplinary hearings could commence.

“First and foremost, we want to assure the public that there is no safety threat resulting from this investigation,” Frenzer said in the statement for the Village. “We have taken proactive measures to ensure the continued safety and security of our community.”

Tierney was also paid $12,792 in accrued vacation-time value (180.8 hours), the agreement says. According to OpenTheBooks.com, a database of public salaries, Tierney had an annual salary of $138,284 in 2022. According to a similar database from IllinoisAnswers.org, Tierney was the second highest earner in the department in 2020, with a base salary of $128,544 and $44,772 in “extra pay.”

The investigation into Tierney and the Northfield Police Department has prompted changes within the department, according to Frenzer’s statement.

He said the department “is in the process of updating its general orders to directly address the use of personal mobile devices while on duty, strengthen its rules regarding use of all information technology and identification systems, and improve reporting to Police Department leadership and Village administration to ensure prompt and effective reporting and investigation of such complaints.”

The statement also read that the Village takes all complaints seriously and is “dedicated to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our community.”

The statement concludes with, “The Village of Northfield remains dedicated to the safety and well-being of our residents and we appreciate the patience and understanding of our community as we work through this process.”

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