A native of Canton and a 1983 graduate of Canton High School, Brian Fengel came to SRC with the intention of being a welder. Brian attended SRC at various times from the fall 1982 to spring 1987 semesters, and took a variety of courses, but he earned that welding certificate in December 1985.
Brian turned to law enforcement after a family member fell victim to a scam and completed an internship with the Canton Police Department through SRC, which fueled his passion for law enforcement. He joined the Bartonville Police Department in January 1990, and he became Chief of Police in 1998.
He is a 2001 graduate of the FBI National Academy and also graduated from the Northwestern University Executive Management Program. During his tenure as Chief, he served on the Illinois Silver Search Task Force, AMBER Alert Task Force, and Elder Abuse Task Force, and he worked the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He established the Bartonville Police Explorer program, and also established the Bartonville Safety of Seniors Program.
Chief Fengel retired in 2019, after 29 years in law enforcement, to become the Director/Coordinator of the Central Illinois Police Training Center, located at Illinois Central College in East Peoria. In this role, Brian coordinates training efforts for over 50 law enforcement agencies across the area. He has also taught as an Adjunct Professor in criminal justice and criminal investigation at ICC for nearly 20 years.
In June 2014, he was elected the 4th Vice President for the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police Board of Directors and is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He serves and has served on many boards, and Chief Fengel also serves as a member of the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor Review Board, which operates under the United States Department of Justice, thanks to an appointment from the United States Congress in January 2015.
Chief Fengel has also served as a member of the Illinois State Law Enforcement Medal of Honors Committee. Chief Fengel was awarded the State of Illinois’ Elderly Service Officer of the Year award, sponsored and presented by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, in October 2012.
Brian is a life-long resident of Central Illinois, originally from Canton but a resident of Peoria County for the last three decades. Locally, he remains involved in Kiwanis, Shriners, Lions Club, and other community service agencies. He and his wife, Tanya, have two children, Emily and Blake, an SRC alumnus himself and a member of the Snapper baseball team.
