University News
WIU Alum Ed Hammer to Speak to WIU LEJA Grad Students March 24
March 20, 2012
MACOMB, IL – A Western Illinois University alumnus whose testimony help convict the incarcerated former Illinois Governor George Ryan will be speaking this weekend to WIU graduate students enrolled in a WIU School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration (LEJA) course.
Ed Hammer, who graduated from Western in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in sociology and an LEJA minor, will be speaking to LEJA Professor Dennis Bowman's students in "The Ethics and Morality in Law Enforcement" class, which meets at the Springfield (IL) Police Academy, Saturday, March 24. Hammer is a retired police investigator and author of the book, "One Hundred Percent Guilty," which covers the licenses for bribes scandal involving Ryan, the former Illinois Inspector General Dean Bauer and others.
According to Bowman, during the class, Hammer will be discussing the political corruption in Illinois and its impact on law enforcement, specifically as it relates to the Ryan licenses for bribes scandal.
"During the class, Ed will be talking about the subject of his book – how Bauer, Ryan and others obstructed the internal investigations he was conducting with his partner Russ Sonneveld," Bowman explained. "One of those cases was the bribe by Ricardo Guzman, the truck driver who caused an accident in November 1994, which resulted in the untimely death of the six children of Scott and Janet Willis."
Hammer is also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy, and he has completed some graduate work in public administration at Governors State University (University Park, IL) and police administration at the University of Virginia. Hammer retired as a captain in 2002 from the Illinois Secretary of State Police. Since then, he has worked with the Orland Park Police Department and as an assistant professor of criminal justice with Northwestern College in Chicago. Hammer currently resides in Orland Park (IL) and is an instructor with the Illinois Mobile Training Units, as well as a law enforcement consultant, lecturer and author.
Hammer's March 24 presentation to the WIU LEJA graduate class is open free to the public and media representatives.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Hammer's talk will begin at 1 p.m. at the Springfield Police Academy on Color Plant Road, at the intersection of Veteran's Parkway and N. Peoria Road -- North of the Illinois State Fairgrounds and South of the Rail Golf Club.
For more information, contact Bowman at (309) 298-1002 or (217) 652-1088 or via email at DW-Bowman@wiu.edu. Learn more about Hammer via his website at www.consulthammer.com. Learn more about WIU's School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration at www.wiu.edu/coehs/leja/.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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