Glen Carbon Approves Police Promotion, New Officer Hires

GLEN CARBON – The Glen Carbon Police Department is welcoming two new officers amid two likely departures and a newly promoted police sergeant.

Gerard Spratt was promoted to the rank of sergeant and new Officers Aaron Brooks and Megan Dotzert were officially sworn in at the March 24, 2026 Village Board meeting.

Police Chief Todd Link said Spratt is originally from Staten Island, N.Y., and has 19 years of law enforcement experience between multiple agencies, including the Caseyville Police and St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, before coming to the GCPD in 2019.

Spratt has previously served as a patrol officer, investigator, and patrol sergeant, having been an investigator with the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis since 2013 and a Southwestern Illinois Police Academy instructor since 2015. He now serves as a Glen Carbon patrol officer, detective, and field training officer who Link said has been “highly reliable and effective on every assignment.”

“He has received numerous awards for achievement, excellence [and] lifesaving,” Link said of Spratt. “He is the past recipient of the Chief’s Commendation Medal in July of 2021 for showing conspicuous intelligence and initiative in turning a traffic stop in the parking lot of an Aldi store into a case that solved numerous burglaries throughout this region and ended up in arresting multiple fugitives that were being pursued by U.S. Marshals.”

Link said Brooks is a Troy, Ill. native who previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2020 to 2024, during which he served as a combat engineer before earning the rank of sergeant and receiving several commendation medals. Brooks was hired by the GCPD in 2019 and “has done very well getting through field training,” Link said, adding he’s already proven dependable within the squad he’s been assigned to.

Dotzert previously served as an ammunition technician with the U.S. Marine Corps from 2018 to 2022 and achieved the rank of Corporal. She also previously served in Iraq and Syria and earned several commendations. Link said Dotzert was hired by the GCPD in 2025 and was in the same Police Academy class as Brooks.

“I cannot say enough about the young officers we’ve hired in the last year or so – Megan’s another example of this,” Link said. “She’s highly dependable, very capable in her job, and we’re very lucky to have her.”

Trustees also gave the Police Department unanimous approval to hire two additional officers above the department’s authorized manning. Link said the department is currently limited to 28 sworn officers, but faces two likely departures in the near future.

“After 27 years of honorable service, Lieutenant [Ned] Miller has announced that he will be retiring in June of this year,” Link said. “Additionally, we have an 11 year veteran officer who is in the hiring process with a federal agency – he could be giving us a two-weeks notice at any time.”

Since the department’s intensive hiring process usually takes 30-60 days followed by a 14-week field training program, Link requested approval to hire above the GCPD’s authorized manning by two sworn officers. He said these new officers will be hired in April or May of 2026 before the two vacancies occur.

“It would give us greater flexibility to pre-plan our hiring process and our training to maximize the success of our supervisors and our newly hired officers,” Link added. “We always balance out once the vacancies do occur, I’m just trying to get ahead of it so we’re not trying to catch up.”

Mayor Bob Marcus thanked Miller for his service and said the village will arrange “a proper send-off” for him at a future meeting in May or June.

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