Decatur's top cop: How Todd Pinion rose quickly from prison guard to police chief

Jun. 12—New Decatur Police Chief Todd Pinion wasn't planning to become the city's top cop when he followed his oldest brother from Herrin, Illinois, to Alabama nearly two decades ago.

A former prison guard, Pinion said he joined the Decatur Police Department with plans to go through training, stay three years and leave to become an Illinois state trooper.

However, something changed in Pinion when he crossed the U.S. 31 causeway and Hudson Memorial Bridge into Decatur.

"I saw the lights of the industries and thought, 'I'm making a big move,'" said Pinion, whose hometown of Herrin had only 10,000 people at the time.

"But, suddenly, I felt like I belonged here. It was home," he said.

Pinion, 44, made a steady rise in 17 years with the Decatur Police Department. Just six months after becoming a captain, he was named interim police chief when Nate Allen abruptly resigned from the department's top job Jan. 23.

On May 16, the City Council chose Pinion over two other former co-workers to be the new chief.

"Finally taking office as the (full-time) chief is humbling," Pinion said. "It's a big responsibility I don't take lightly."

The son of a coal miner and youngest of three brothers, Pinion's passion was sports growing up. He starred in baseball, football and basketball at Herrin High School. Division III college football teams recruited him as a senior, but he didn't follow that route because athletic scholarships weren't offered at that level.

"My goal in life and my passion was to become a coach and a teacher," Pinion said.

His oldest brother, David Pinion, said he remembers Todd played center and defensive end in football, third base in baseball and point guard at basketball.

"He was pretty good athlete all-around, especially his junior and senior years," David Pinion said.

Todd Pinion said he still plays church league softball and coached his son, Eli, in youth baseball. It's easy to tell he's a baseball fan from the Cincinnati Reds lanyard he wears daily with his City Hall employee badge.

Kevin Pinion, the middle of the three brothers and the one who would retire as a sergeant in the Illinois Department of Corrections, got Todd a job right out of high school as a prison guard at Menard Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison in Chester, Illinois. Todd Pinion worked three years in the prison.

Todd Pinion said the experience taught him how to talk to all different kinds of people and how to deal with people.

"I found out that sometimes people just made really bad choices," he said.

David Pinion, who is 14 years older than Todd, was grown and out of the house for most of his youngest brother's childhood. David Pinion had retired from working on a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine and taken a job for the Tennessee Valley Authority at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Tanner.

Joining Police Department

Todd Pinion, who said he "idolized" his oldest brother, followed David to Decatur in 2004 and was hired as a Decatur police officer. He lived with David a couple of months as he began police academy before getting his own apartment.

"I remember Todd coming to the house after getting sprayed by pepper spray (in police academy)," David Pinion said with a laugh.

After working as a patrol officer for three years, Todd Pinion's fast ascent with DPD began when he became an investigator in the Violent Crimes Unit.

"I really felt like I found my niche and what I really enjoyed," Todd Pinion said.

George Silvestri, now a captain, was a partner with Pinion for three years in the Violent Crimes Unit under Rick Archer.

"At the time, we were getting hit pretty hard with several shootings, robberies and stabbings," Silvestri said. "He carried his weight and he would work all day and into the night trying to solve a case. He wouldn't quit and he wasn't afraid. He's a thinker."

Silvestri said they had a large number of child sex crime cases and Pinion handled them well.

"Child sex crimes are tough," Silvestri said. "We work well with the (Morgan County) Child Advocacy Center, and he had a way of talking with parents of the victims. He could really get to the center of what happened."

Silvestri said Pinion also had a way of talking to people on the street, particularly suspects. They went to pick up a robbery suspect and Pinion's experience as a prison guard came out, he said.

"The guy was an ex-con and they started talking this lingo that I didn't understand," Silvestri said. "He got all inside the guy's head. The guy really liked Todd, who was very good at what he was doing."

Pinion spent four years in Violent Crimes before getting promoted to sergeant of the Property Crimes Unit. He moved into Internal Affairs in 2018, which put him in charge of the hiring process while also investigating complaints against and within the Police Department.

"During the (COVID-19) pandemic, there were a lot of societal issues going on so we probably had more complaints during that time," Pinion said.

Pinion, who made captain after three years in IA, said he learned during his time as a prison guard, an investigator and in Internal Affairs to "always treat people fairly, go with the facts and take the emotion out of any decision. As long as you are being fair and honest, people will respect you."

Rise to chief

Pinion admitted he was surprised to become interim chief six months after becoming a captain.

"I was thrown into the water in the hopes I could swim," Pinion said.

David Pinion admitted he was even surprised that his youngest brother was named police chief.

"He seems awfully young, but I'm sure he will do well," David Pinion said. "I've never doubted his capabilities."

Chief Pinion attributed his quick progression through the ranks of the Police Department to taking every available opportunity to test for the next rank.

Silvestri called Pinion "very level-headed and intelligent with a strong work ethic."

David Pinion said his brother has always been "very laid-back and easygoing but, when it's time to step up and take charge, he doesn't have any problem doing that either."

Silvestri said Todd Pinion is like many of his best supervisors in his 30 years with the department in that he doesn't yell or rant and he's willing to listen and discuss issues even when there's a disagreement.

"He has this way of getting his point across without a lot of noise," Silvestri said. "Todd can just look at you and you know he's not happy."

Silvestri said he can tell already that Pinion "really cares about his troops."

Pinion took over as interim police chief in January at a time when the department was struggling, particularly with a shortage of officers. Morale was low, according to those who interviewed for the police chief opening in April.

Increasing staffing

Several retirements, defections to other departments or officers just quitting the profession put the Decatur Police Department down as many as 30 vacancies in December when full force is usually 141 badged officers.

Silvestri said he "doesn't know the root cause" of what happened other than to say a lot of issues, including low pay compared to surrounding departments and a lack of applicants, converged all at once.

Just as quickly as the department atmosphere deteriorated, it turned around in January and February, Silvestri said.

Pinion and Silvestri said the new chief's first priority has to be rebuilding the force and retaining officers. Pinion said his experience in Internal Affairs could help because he comes in knowing the hiring process.

The rebuild started with the hiring of eight new officers in his first three months as interim chief. They've hired three more recently so the department is down to 18 vacancies.

Silvestri said he's been impressed so far with Pinion's choices in the hiring, which include eight lateral transfers (officers joined DPD from other police departments).

"The folks he's hired are top-notch," Silvestri said. "And it's exciting to watch."

Pinion said his goal is to get the number of vacancies down to single digits. Prior to the recent issues, the department averaged having about seven openings a year.

The chief said an important part of the staff management is making his officers happy, which in turn would then turn them into recruiters for the department.

"Our best recruiters are our guys because they're out in the community," Pinion said.

He said making sure the department has enough patrol officers is the first priority "because they're the ones out there in the public deal with the day-to-day issues."

The next priority will be beefing up Investigations, he added.

"If there's a crime, a victim wants us out there solving that crime," Pinion said.

Other plans

The new chief hopes rebuilding the staffing level allows him to accomplish several goals, including restarting the Warrant Unit.

The city has as many as 100 outstanding warrants. Pinion said he doesn't know what the current number is, but there will be an emphasis to reduce the amount of outstanding warrants.

Pinion said he plans to hold a series of community meetings because he believes "the community should have an avenue to communicate with the department. If we don't know the issues, we can't fix them."

He's already brought back ACES, Alternative Choices Education System, a program for ages 8 to 14 designed to present youths with alternatives to drugs and gangs, provide them with positive role models and improve law enforcement-youth relationships.

Pinion, his wife, Jennifer, and their son, Eli, live in Hartselle. Their home is just 1,400 yards from the Decatur city limits. City ordinance says the police chief must live in Decatur.

City Human Resources Director Richelle Sandlin said the city policy is he must move within 12 months of his appointment, so Pinion must move by May 2023.

Pinion says he plans to comply with this rule.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.