Cops accused of PPP fraud, domestic violence are the sons of two former Chicago police superintendents

Terry Hillard and Fred Waller both rose through the ranks of the Chicago Police Department all the way to the top.

The sons of the former police superintendents have also joined the department, but their careers have been far less illustrious — and are now in jeopardy.

Dana Hillard and Kendall Waller have both been sidelined pending investigations into allegations they broke the law.

Dana Hillard has been accused of defrauding the federal Paycheck Protection Program that was intended to keep businesses afloat during the pandemic, records show. Kendall Waller faces allegations of domestic battery, breaking into a home and stealing a car.

His father remains a powerful figure within the police department, working as a civilian adviser to Supt. Larry Snelling.
Dana Hillard and Kendall Waller couldn’t be reached. The police department didn’t respond to questions.

Dana Hillard was relieved of his policing powers on July 31, 2024, more than a year after the police department’s internal affairs bureau started investigating him.

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s office informed the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability about the investigation, which was spurred by an anonymous tip alleging Dana Hillard “falsely received a PPP loan,” according to a document obtained from the oversight agency. Witzburg declined to comment.

Federal records show that a forgivable loan of $18,310 was granted in April 2021 to a “sole proprietorship” operated by Dana Hillard.

His given address was for a home in Chatham that’s owned by his parents, according to the Cook County recorder of deeds. Terry Hillard was targeted in a paintball attack outside the home over Memorial Day weekend in 2022.

The elder Hillard was appointed police superintendent in 1998 by Mayor Richard M. Daley, and he remained in the role until he retired in 2003. Daley later tapped Terry Hillard as the interim superintendent when Jody Weis resigned in 2011.

Terry Hillard also co-founded Hillard Heintze, a security risk management firm that worked with corporations, government agencies and “prominent individuals,” according to an online biography. It was acquired in 2019 by Jensen Hughes, a professional engineering and consulting services firm.

Dana Hillard joined the police department in 2006 after working as a campus cop at Northwestern University, state law enforcement records show.

Like Kendall Waller, he’s assigned to the police department’s alternate response section, which fields 311 calls and is staffed by civilians and officers with disciplinary problems and others not medically cleared for full duty.

Interim COPA Chief Administrator LaKenya White urged Snelling to strip Kendall Waller of his policing powers in a June 20 letter, pointing to her agency’s “ongoing investigation into allegations of physical abuse, home invasion, and vehicle theft.”

In the letter, which was provided to the Chicago Sun-Times with significant redactions, White said COPA had “received an anonymous complaint reporting multiple incidents of domestic violence” involving Kendall Waller in late April.

White noted that he’s also the subject of a second investigation, opened in June, in which he’s accused of choking someone during a domestic-related attack and making violent threats. Records show that a criminal investigation was administratively closed, and no charges were filed.

White told Snelling that a person who was interviewed following the latest complaint said “that none of the allegations are truthful and that there are no issues between Officer Waller and herself.” Another person “refused to provide a recorded statement” after the earlier investigation was opened.

Fred Waller was previously accused of domestic violence in 1994 by his then-wife, but she stopped cooperating with investigators and the complaint wasn’t sustained.

Kendall Waller was hired by the police department in 2018 and was previously suspended for 10 days for engaging in a car chase outside city limits in February 2023. He was also reprimanded for failing to properly secure his gun in October 2021, police records show.

Fred Waller came out of retirement in May 2023 and served as interim police superintendent at the request of then-Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson. Fred Waller had previously held a range of positions in the department, including operations chief and patrol chief.

After Johnson installed Snelling as the permanent superintendent, Fred Waller stayed on as a nearly $200,000 a year “deputy director.” As a retired officer, he’s also receiving an annual police pension of $151,535, WBEZ previously found.