Brookfield has promoted a second deputy chief of police to help lead decision-making and keep track of administrative tasks at the village’s police department.
Deputy Chief James Mihalik was sworn in by Village Clerk Brigid Weber at the village board’s Jan. 13 meeting. Mihalik, 46, will join Deputy Chief Terry Schreiber as a right-hand man to Chief Michael Kuruvilla after Brookfield officials established a second deputy position in December. Schreiber has been deputy chief since 2021, after Kuruvilla moved up from the role to replace former Chief Edward Petrak.
The former lieutenant, who has a bachelor’s degree from Benedictine University, has been on the force in Brookfield since 2003 and a resident since 1998. He said his interest in becoming a police officer developed while he was in college.
“I’ve always been a helper, if you will, and going into college … I had a friend that was getting into law enforcement,” Mihalik said in an interview with the Landmark. “I knew his family, [which] steered me in that direction a little bit.”
He said he pushed himself as a candidate for the new deputy chief position because it aligned with his career path.
“You know, timing was everything for me,” he said. “Where Deputy Chief Schreiber is on the operations side of things, administratively, I think that’s always been my strong suit, and I thought it would be a good fit for me moving forward in that role. I mean, I’m 46; I’ve hit my 21st year. I think progressing every couple of years and doing something different keeps you motivated and reenergized in the profession, so I thought it would be a good time for me.”
As deputy chief, he said his new salary is $144,532.87 per year.
Mihalik was a candidate for the open deputy chief position in 2019, when Kuruvilla was promoted to the role under Petrak, but he said that being promoted this year was likely better for him in the long run.
“When I interviewed for that position, I don’t think I would have been ready to be in a chief position,” he said. “When you look back and see where we’re at now, obviously Chief Kuruvilla in the position he’s in and Deputy Chief Schreiber, I have nothing but respect for both of them. We’ve worked together in many capacities within the department, but I still have more to learn, and I’m going to get that from both of them … I’m a firm believer that it was just a better fit for me at this time.”
With a focus on administration, Mihalik said he is responsible for handling payroll, applying for grants, training officers, scheduling meetings, reviewing policy and maintaining equipment and the fleet of squad cars alongside other duties, though he said he and the department’s other leaders are still sorting out the exact division of labor between the two deputy chiefs.
“[Under] the previous structure, we all dabbled in a little bit of everything, I would say, but we’re trying to change that,” he said. “Administrative-wise, that might be handled more by me. When it comes to patrol and day-to-day operations, with respect to what are the lieutenants doing with the patrol staff, that’s Deputy Chief Schreiber. And we will intertwine a little bit sometimes, depending on who’s here.”
During his career in Brookfield, Mihalik said, he’s tried to give the support he felt from the village back to the community.
“As policemen, you do what you can to help people or give them the right direction, but there’s times that sometimes the answers you have and the solutions you have aren’t always what they’re looking for, but you try to do that in a respectful manner,” he said. “I think I’ve done that throughout my career, and that’s why I have a lot of respect within the department and respect within the village.”
He said he never imagined he would become a deputy chief of police when he first set out in the field.
“I mean, you start your career in law enforcement, and you want to be the police, right? But you don’t know the impact that you have as you go through your career, and I never realized the progression of how things would go; you don’t anticipate that,” he said.
He added: “During each of my appointments and promotions, supervisors ahead of me instilled the confidence in you. Whether you thought you were ready or not, you’d have those sit-down conversations, and they’d let you know that they believe in you and that they think you do a good job. It made it a lot easier to transition to a different role, and I don’t think this one is any different.”
