Board of Police and Fire Commissioners

The Board of Police and Fire Commissioners is charged with the duty to appoint, promote, discipline, and remove all sworn officers of the Police Department, with the exception of the Chief of Police, in accordance with State Statute. The Board consists of three residents of the Village. Board members are appointed by the Mayor with the consent of the Village Board of Trustees. Members serve a term of three years.

Transcription of the original member-biography document. Ages, employment, and family details are reproduced as published and describe the document’s original context.

Nick McCumber, 63, is the day-shift sergeant and crime prevention officer on the Bradley University Police Department, where he has worked 10 years following a 25-year career with the Peoria Heights Police Department. He previously served with the Peoria Heights fire and ambulance squads, as well.

A member of the 1978 Class of Peoria Heights High School – and the now-defunct Gardner Grade School before that -- McCumber has spent most of his life in or around the Heights. He also owns a bachelor’s degree from Bradley with a double major in biology and sociology.

He married Stefanie 29 years ago and together they are the parents of four adult children and the grandparents of one.

Jeff Shields, 59, is the director of sales for TADA Cognitive Solutions, the Peoria-based supply chain/health care software company where he has worked for the past 22 years. He is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University with a degree in education.

Shields grew up in Peoria Heights, where his father, Jack, worked as a police officer for 25 years and also volunteered with the Heights Fire Department, and his mother, Joanne, served as a Richwoods Township trustee and a Police Pension Board member.

He currently lives in the Heights with his wife, Jennifer, and they are the parents of four adult children. They are members of St. Thomas Catholic

Church in the Heights and have volunteered for multiple causes including Easter Seals of Central Illinois and Children’s Hospital of Illinois.

Greg Walters, 68, is a 42-year resident of Peoria Heights and a former fire chief in the Village.

A firefighter by profession, Walters rose through the ranks of the Peoria Fire Department over a 28-year career, ultimately becoming assistant fire chief. He was chief of fire investigations in the City of Peoria for 17 years. Walters’ affiliation with the Peoria Heights Fire Department actually spanned 33 years, starting as a volunteer and culminating with his elevation to chief of the volunteer department, a position he held for eight years until his retirement in 2021.

Meanwhile, Walters was the fire science coordinator at Illinois Central College for a full decade, ending in 2018. Prior to that, he served in the military for 22 years between stints in the U.S. Air Force and the Air National Guard.

Walters is married to Teri, the daughter of former Peoria Heights Board Trustee Jeanette Hillyer, and together they have two adult children and five grandchildren.