Former Bloomington Police Chief Brendan Heffner has retired after serving seven years as the U.S. Marshal for the Central District of Illinois.
Heffner was appointed the post in 2018, after leading the Bloomington Police Department for five years.
U.S. Marshals are responsible for protection of federal courthouses and prisons, apprehending federal fugitives, working with various law enforcement task forces and managing seized assets acquired through criminal activities.
Heffner’s time as U.S. Marshal capped off a 38-year career in law enforcement.
“It just seems like the time,” Heffner said in deciding when to retire. He has moved to Florida, where his parents moved a few years ago. “Having worked on the local and the state level and then ending at the historic marshal’s service, that’s pretty much the pinnacle for me,” Heffner said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
Heffner said negative perceptions some have about law enforcement have made if difficult to attract and retain more sworn officers.
“Society has taken the indiscretions of a few in law enforcement and some people in society ... have kind of villainized law enforcement,” he said, adding the challenge is greater for U.S. Marshals where the hiring process can take several years — three years in the case of his son to become a deputy.
Heffner said hiring struggles place added pressure on smaller police agencies to accept more questionable candidates simply because they can save on training costs for those already working at another police department.
“You have officers that go to different places when things aren’t going well for them where they are,” he said, referencing the killing of Sonya Massey by a former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy in 2024.
‘Warrior mindset’
Heffner said it remains a tough time for law enforcement and that has made some officers less effective. He said he's concerned that many in law enforcement have lost what he calls the “warrior mindset.”
“We don’t want officers out there afraid to do the job because they feel that they may face so much scrutiny later,” he ssaid, cautioning if an officer hesitates in the moment, they could put lives at risk.
“When you are thinking on this job, you can get killed,” he said.
Heffner said officers still need to be trained in de-escalation, and that should be the primary strategy in many situations.
“I would say that a majority of the time, de-escalations are used first and used a long time,” he said.
In response to the recent fatal shooting of Renee Macklin Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, Heffner said an investigation should determine whether law enforcement needs additional training for cases like that.
Heffner said he wants to see more evidence before he can assess the officer's claim that he acted in self-defense.
“Just like I couldn’t tell you how you felt if you felt your life was in danger, it’s hard to second guess the officer,” Heffner said.
When asked whether the officer, later identified through media reports as Jonathan Ross, could have taken steps to de-escalate the incident before firing his weapon, Heffner said he was not a “Monday morning quarterback” without knowing what happened prior to the shooting.
Authorities in Minnesota say they are not getting cooperation from the federal government in their efforts to investigate the shooting while the Department of Justice sought to investigate Good's widow.
