Former Mattoon Police captain appointed interim chief of university police department

Former Mattoon Police captain appointed interim chief of university police department Categories: News Former Mattoon Police captain appointed interim chief of university police department T.J. Seputis, Managing Editor • October 14, 2026 T.J. Seputis Interim University Police Chief Jeremy Clark sits at his desk Oct. 6 at the UPD station. He previously worked for nearly 19 years at the Mattoon Police Department before retiring in 2022. Clark is still awaiting the reactivation of his police officer certification now that he is returning to law enforcement. An interim chief began work at the Eastern Illinois University Police Department on Oct. 5 following the departure of former Police Chief Marisol Gamboa. Interim Police Chief Jeremy Clark was one of three candidates who interviewed for the position after the university learned that Gamboa’s last day would be Sept. 30. Clark is new to the university police department, but he is no stranger to working in law enforcement nor at the university. He spent nearly 19 years at the Mattoon Police Department, and he was a captain when he retired from the department in 2022. Clark has an associates degree in criminal justice, and he received both a bachelors in general education and a masters in cyber security from Eastern. After retiring from the Mattoon Police Department and finishing his education, Clark worked at Eastern as an adjunct faculty in the school of technology. From there, he was hired as the senior information security analyst at Eastern’s Information and Technology Services. One of Clark’s former roles in law enforcement was as a detective, and he said he got into computer forensics during that time, which is what led him to IT during retirement. “I worked on a couple different task forces, one with the state attorney general’s office, another one with the DHS doing Project Safe Childhood stuff, and I just love technology, so I was like ‘Oh, I’ll check out cybersecurity,’” Clark said. Clark first heard about the interim chief position after other law enforcement agencies suggested him as someone who might be interested. He hadn’t considered the position until that point, he said. He said the selection process was pretty brief because Gamboa had left suddenly. Clark said his new position was a natural fit because of his background in policing and his love for EIU. He also said he didn’t want the department to go without anyone in command for a long time. He said he does not know for how long he’ll have the position of interim chief, and he said he’s still considering whether he’d be interested in applying for a permanent position. “I just want to do what’s best for not only the university, but the department, so we’re still feeling each other out,” Clark said. According to Clark the department is currently two officers below full capacity, which is 14 officers. The agency is also missing a business manager following former Business Manager Stacy Smith’s departure in September. Clark said his previous law enforcement certification needs to be reactivated, so he is currently operating in an unsworn capacity. He said he will be a sworn police officer once the state of Illinois is done processing the recertification. Clark said the officers at UPD have a difficult job, especially since they are short staffed and just saw the departure of a chief. “They’ve done a really good job and stepped up, and I’m proud of them for that because they’ve kept together. So, that’s why I’m just trying to fit in and come in and help build that culture and not mess things up and keep things going smooth,” he said. Clark said the department currently does not have an administrative lieutenant, which is a position it’s had in the past. He said whether that position will be filled is still under discussion. The department currently has two sergeants, Sgt. Andrea Beals and Sgt. Jeremy Shores, who are second in the command structure. Clark said he doesn’t foresee any particular challenges beyond managing the department’s budget in today’s economy and the other difficulties that come with police work. “We are a unique environment because we have students and we’re kind of contained in an area within a city versus the city as a whole, so I think it’s just continuing to be community-based policing and working with each of the departments around campus so we can just provide the best service to the students and not miss any important factors that keep students to want to come here or feel like they’re not safe here,” Clark said. Clark said he was still getting settled into his new role and that he didn’t intend to make changes, at least initially. “There could be some improvement we can do later on, but right now I’m just trying to fit in and learn from these guys and learn the culture,” Clark said. Clark said that he was still trying to take inventory of the department’s social media presence and that he’d like to start using the technology in a manner similar to other area departments. “I would like to use it more like some of the surrounding agencies to help us with if we’re trying to look into somebody or a vehicle or a certain situation, we can get some help from the student body or we can make them aware of certain instances or situations,” Clark said. He also said he wants to use social media to share fun things, too, like events or reposts from other university departments. Clark said Oct. 6 that he had met with about half of the department’s officers so far. “I’m trying to schedule up to an hour session one-on-one [with each officer] just so I can introduce myself and get to know them as people, not just officers,” He said. Clark said he wanted to conduct ride-alongs with the patrol staff but that he would wait until he was recertified as a police officer. Clark said that despite the leadership change, Alert EIU messages will still operate the same way. “We have to operate under certain reporting restrictions under the Clery Act, so when we think there’s a threat to the campus or nearby campus, we’re gonna be still providing those notifications,” Clark said. Vice President for Business Affairs Matt Bierman said the university had two weeks notice that Gamboa would be leaving. He said he made the selection for the interim position on Sept. 28, two days prior to Gamboa’s last day. Clark started working at the beginning of the next week. Bierman said he was acting administrator of the police department during the period between Gamboa’s last day and Clark’s first day. He said the entire hiring and selection process happened in about two weeks. Bierman said he, along with a committee, interviewed a total of three candidates for the position. “We were looking for somebody to come in who has had police background, somebody who has some leadership experience in policing, somebody who could handle the administrative functions that job requires and somebody who was going to move the mission of the university forward in the interim,” Bierman said. He said other attributes he and the committee looked for were an appreciation for community policing and the knowledge of how to interact with students. Bierman said that the business manager position at the police department, which is currently vacant, is posted and that the university intends to fill the position. The university has been working to fill the two vacant officer positions, Bierman said. Bierman said the university intends to search for a permanent police chief, but he wasn’t yet sure when that search will be started. “We intend to search for a new police chief, but I don’t know when that search will kick off. I’m not launching it immediately. I need [Clark] to have the opportunity to kind of figure some things out since there wasn’t much transition time between the two chiefs,” Bierman said. Bierman said the search will likely begin sometime during the calendar year 2027. “Our search processes sometimes take a long time to do a full search for a permanent position because we want to make sure we get the best candidates. [An interim position] is a no guarantee of future employment, but this is ‘step into this role, please help us out in a shorter time frame,’ but we will be searching the position at a later time frame,” Bierman said. Bierman said the Alert EIU process will stay the same, but the people involved will be slightly different. “Chief Gamboa had a significant role in that process, and now it will be Chief Clark will have a significant role in that process. Dr. Flaherty played an important role in that process. I will now be more involved in that process than I was,” Bierman said. In addition to an internal leadership change, the university police department has also seen administrative restructuring at the university level. Announced at the president’s Fall Update, UPD is now under the umbrella of business affairs, which is a departure from where it previously fell under student affairs. Following the announcement, Bierman said the move allowed the university to bring its emergency and risk management functions into one division. Another reason behind the restructuring was the chief change at UPD, according to previous reporting by The Daily Eastern News. Clark said that for the time being, he believes a graduate assistant has taken over his former responsibilities at IT. He said he is unsure of the department’s long-term plans for his former role. T.J. Seputis can be reached at [email protected]. View Story Comments 0 Like This Story Share on Facebook Share on X Email this Story Print this Story Leave a Comment Tags: police More to Discover More in News Over 70 vendors attend Small Business Fest at Eastern Eastern’s fall enrollment decline sees similiarities, differences from statewide trends Student Senate asks university to regulate use of AI by faculty Career Services at Eastern celebrates new space with ribbon cutting Limited access to accessible entrances in Coleman Hall raises concerns  Charleston Fire Department Celebrates Fire Prevention Week at Linder Sports Complex About the Contributor T.J. Seputis, Managing Editor T.J. Seputis is a senior criminology/criminal justice major and can be reached at [email protected]. He previously served as a reporter and a copy editor.