Rockton Police Chief retiring after 31 years of dedicated service

During his long career Chief Hollinger worked his way up through the ranks as a Patrol Officer, Northern Illinois Auto Theft Task Force Investigator, Patrol Sergeant, Deputy Chief and served as Rockton’s Chief of Police for the past four years.

Hollinger is retiring on June 10, 2026, after 31 years of dedicated service.

He was officially sworn in as Rockton's new Police Chief by Village Clerk Christina Stewart on June 7, 2022.

A resident of Mt. Morris, IL. through grade school, Hollinger attended high school in Mendota.

While in high school, he was involved in Police Explorers and was fortunate to have completed an internship with the Mendota Police. 

A father of one of Hollinger's friends was a police officer and Hollinger's interest in law enforcement began through his stories.

“ I started doing ride-alongs with the local police. I was hooked after I was able to be involved in some investigations and a high speed pursuit,” Hollinger said.

Hollinger  attended Illinois Valley Community College for Criminal Justice Studies for two  years.

Hollinger reflects on this experience. “I was anxious to move on to the workforce and began my building my skills for law enforcement by becoming a loss prevention representative at numerous retail businesses in the Rockford and Freeport area.”

“For a couple of years, my job was to wear regular clothing while walking around the store and identifying those individuals who were unwilling to pay for the products. I had the pleasure of working with several loss prevention personnel that are currently police officers in the Rockford area to this day,” Hollinger said.

Soon after, Hollinger  was hired by Rockton Police after being introduced to Rockton PD staff.

Hollinger said, “Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege of building relationships with so many great men and women in law enforcement and I look forward to continuing  to develop those relationships as the police chief.

I’m very grateful to have been sent to Northwestern University Center for Public Safety School of Police Staff and Command and many other Police Executive training opportunities.”

He adds, “I value the relationships that I’ve built in the law enforcement community and the Rockton community.

While doing this, I’ve realized how important it is to show the people I’ve met that first and foremost, “ I’m a family man, I’m a friend, a neighbor or a coach. I value the relationships we have with our two  school districts and we routinely have conversations with school administration regarding school safety. Our officers truly enjoy working with the faculty and students, “Hollinger said.

“In the past four years as Chief, I’m incredibly proud of the team we’ve assembled at Rockton PD. During this time, we’ve hired nine officers and two administrative staff.

Four patrol officers were promoted to sergeant and one sergeant appointed to Deputy Chief of Police. In addition, we’ve made significant improvements and additions to our technology and training. We’ve continued to build meaningful and long-term relationships within our community.”

Hollinger adds, “I want to express my gratitude to the Village Board for their commitment to ensuring our officers are provided with valuable training and resources. Thank you to our Police Commission for helping us build our team. Thank you to Police Chaplain Dan Herman for his compassion and guidance.

It’s been an honor to work with such an amazing group of talented and professional officers and staff whose commitment to this profession and our community has been an inspiration. I am so grateful to the regional Chiefs and Sheriffs fort heir friendship and counsel. Most importantly, I want to thank my family for theirs sacrifices, patience and understanding.”

Deputy Chief Justin Jobst will be taking on the role of Interim Police Chief upon Hollinger’s retirement.

Hollinger says, “I’ve had the pleasure of working right beside him for the past 23 years. Rockton is fortunate to have his experience and leadership. I wish Chief Jobst and the Rockton Police Department continued success.”

In his retirement Hollinger shares that he is planning to catch up on many family projects and hopefully to enjoy plenty of golfing this summer.