About Pete

Pete Colarelli was born on the east side of Chicago and was raised in nearby New Lenox, Illinois.  He is the second child of Pete Sr. and Barbara Colarelli and has three sisters, Kimberly, Stacy and Anne Marie.  Pete attended Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox and graduated as a member of the National Honor Society, earning several other academic awards during his high school years.  Pete continued his education at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Liberal Arts.  Thomas Aquinas College offered the Great Books program and Pete studied some of the greatest thinkers of Western civilization, including Plato, Aristotle, the Founding Fathers, and Abraham Lincoln.

After graduating from Thomas Aquinas College, Pete attended Roosevelt University in Chicago and earned his Certification in Litigation Legal Assistance.  He began working in the litigation department of Jenner & Block law firm in Chicago shortly after graduation from Roosevelt University.  After a short while, Pete moved to the law firm of Fagel and Haber in Chicago, where he worked in their corporate law division.  Before leaving in 1996, Pete was not only supervising the corporate division, but also managing the collections division of their litigation department.

Pete married his college sweetheart Angela (O’Neill) in 1994 and they welcomed their first child Madeline in 1996.  Shortly after the birth of Madeline, Pete was hired as a police officer for the City of Lockport and moved into the City.  During the first two years of his duties as a police officer, Pete was a leader in drunk driving and overall arrests and was recognized by the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists (AAIM) for his accomplishments.

Pete saw immediate success as a police officer, being promoted to Crime Prevention Officer (CPO) just two years after he was hired.  As CPO, he supervised the implementation of the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and the GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) programs in Lockport’s nine public and parochial schools.  Pete also increased the number of schools that received the DARE and GREAT programs, adding four schools that were not receiving the benefits of these important programs.  As a result of these initiatives, 850 additional students began learning about the dangers of making destructive decisions.

As CPO, Pete was also responsible for the implementation of the Neighborhood Watch Program, which had been dormant for years prior to his promotion.  Under Pete’s leadership, the Neighborhood Watch Program expanded from a few inactive neighborhoods to over fourteen city-wide.  This increase in participation meant that over 500 residents were now tapped into events in their neighborhoods.  Residents were also now able to feel confident that they could not only receive police service after a crime was committed, but could also be proactive in preventing future crimes by reporting trends in suspicious activity to the police department through Pete.  As a result of Pete’s efforts as CPO, he was recognized with the Officer of the Year Award by the Lockport Exchange Club in 2000.

In 2003, Pete was again promoted, this time to the position of School Resource Officer (SRO).  As SRO, he acted as a liaison between the police department and Lockport Township High School and worked to not only respond to criminal complaints on school grounds, but also to inspire our youth to seek a better life through good decision-making.  In order to improve his abilities as a police officer, Pete began attending Lewis University in 2004, earning a Master of Arts Degree in Organizational Leadership in 2006.  Pete focused his leadership studies in Public Policy and Higher Education, since he had a passion for both the education of our children and the implementation of policy that can help to improve our society as a whole.

Pete’s experiences at Lockport Township High School affected him so greatly that he left the police department in 2006 to work at the high school as their Development, Public Relations and Foundation Director.  As the Director of Development and the LTHS Foundation, Pete began raising money for scholarships that benefit our students.  Under his leadership, the LTHS Foundation presented graduating students with 47 scholarships worth over $108,000.  In addition, the Foundation funded 13 “mini grants” to enhance the high school’s academic and co-curricular programs.

Pete believes that his experiences at the police department, which taught him to care for all people, no matter what their backgrounds or socio-economic levels, will help to make him a very effective alderman.  As a police officer, Pete treated the needs of residents as his own and was known to spend the time that was necessary to truly resolve the issues confronting them.  Pete understood that his responsibilities at the police department required that he be a public servant, and he believes that this spirit of public service is necessary in his role as an alderman.

Pete also values communication between residents and public institutions, and his successes at Lockport Township High School and the police department have proven that he can capably communicate with residents.  As alderman, Pete intends to use all means of communication at his disposal to effectively represent the neighbors in his ward.  He will focus on face-to-face conversation, and telephone, internet and written communication to ensure that he hears the concerns of his residents.