{"id":7699,"date":"2025-04-30T02:35:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T02:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7699"},"modified":"2025-04-30T02:35:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T02:35:54","slug":"la-salle-police-elevate-ray-gatza-to-sergeant-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7699","title":{"rendered":"La Salle police elevate Ray Gatza to sergeant – Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"


La Salle Police Officer Ray Gatza (center) was promoted to sergeant on Monday, April 28, 2025. <\/span>(Photo provided by Chief Mike Smudzinski)
La Salle<\/a> Police Department promoted Officer Ray Gatza on Monday.
Gatza, who was promoted to sergeant, has been on the department for about 13 years.
He took on an administrative role 18 months ago and has been doing a \u201cphenomenal job\u201d getting body cameras, squad car cameras, obtaining grants to pay for it, as well as taking over the scheduling.
\u201cHe does a lot of the things I was trying to take on, but couldn\u2019t dream of doing it anymore because it\u2019s out of my range,\u201d Chief Mike Smudzinski said.
Smudzinski said he opted to promote Gatza because he does a great job and has a strong work ethic, comes in early and stays late.
\u201cHe\u2019s going to be a part of this department for a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cThe city is lucky to have him.\u201d
Gatza is also one of the officers spearheading the new reporting system with Illinois Valley Regional Dispatch, Smudzinski said.
Alderman Jordan Crane said he has seen Gatza come up through the ranks with hardwork and leadership.
\u201cThat\u2019s something I like to see with all city workers,\u201d he said. \u201cJust start young and keep climbing and don\u2019t stop.\u201d
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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La Salle Police Officer Ray Gatza (center) was promoted to sergeant on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Photo provided by Chief Mike Smudzinski)La Salle Police Department promoted Officer Ray Gatza on Monday. Gatza, who was promoted to sergeant, has been on the department for about 13 years. He took on an administrative role 18 months ago and has been doing a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t