When Alison Teevan graduated from Schaumburg High School, her plan was to attend the University of Illinois for accounting.  The trajectory of her life, however, changed completely when she received a last minute scholarship for basketball to Western Illinois University. 

A popular major at the school was criminal justice, so she switched to it from accounting. Despite having no family members or role models in law enforcement, once at Western, she got hooked into police work.

 She completed an FBI course, got a bachelor’s degree from Western and went back to get a masters degree in Public Administration four years ago. 

In February 2007, Teevan landed a job in the Mount Prospect Police Department and has been there ever since. Nineteen years later, she is just as passionate about it as she was when she started.  

“Once a week I’m like ‘wow’ this [job] is really cool,” Teevan said. “Every day is different for me. I look forward to coming to work.” 

Teevan held the position of an officer and sergeant; although, on Jan. 6, she got promoted to the rank of commander.
“I really love the idea of this role; though, I’m still getting used to it,” Teevan said. “It’s kind of similar to being a head coach of a sports team where you’re given power, but it’s not power over [people], it’s power to help, to achieve, to teach.” 

Not only is Teevan a new police commander, but she is Mount Prospect’s first ever female commander. She felt extremely humbled and honored during her promotion ceremony because Teevan was one of four women out of 11 people who were able to apply for this position. 

“These women, they’re doing great things,” Teevan said. “They’re becoming field training officers and crisis negotiators and leaders in their own specialties.”

Though she may have achieved the position now, her journey to get there was nothing short of eventful. Before her job in Mount Prospect, Teevan worked with the Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate drug usage. 

She started by working with neighboring agencies, such as the Arlington Heights Police Department, expanding slowly into Chicago. Eventually, the investigations allowed her to travel to various places like Mexico, Columbia and Los Angeles where she observed her senior agents and studied how they operated. 

“You’ve still got to be focused and dialed in, and you don’t just get to go to these places. It takes a lot of hard work to build an investigation to get here,” Teevan said. 

Not only does Teevan enjoy the travel that her work entails, but also the interesting cases she gets assigned to.  A moment that was particularly rewarding to Teevan was when she investigated the case of a young man’s death due to substance overdose. She had led the case to identify the drug dealer who had sold the man substances. In the meantime, she got to know the victim’s mother. 

“[His mother] wanted, I don’t even want to call it closure,” Teevan said. “What she wanted was for someone to recognize her son.” 

After Teevan and her team finished the investigation, she presented the grieving mother with the final information. She wrapped Teevan in a hug, thankful for her dedication.

 “Something like that is beyond the level of reward that I could have ever imagined,” Teevan said. “It’s a feeling that I don’t think you can get from any other career.”

 The two women kept in touch after the case was closed with occasional phone calls. The mother even came to Teevan’s promotion to sergeant in 2021. 

Teevan’s work with drug investigations inspired her to push for higher ranking and apply for commander. 

 “That was the first time I became a supervisor, and I realized that I really had a passion for leading and mentoring, so once I had that first promotion I knew I just wanted to continue to take it to the next level,” Teevan said. 

Aside from drug investigations, one unusual part of being a police officer that Teevan enjoys are midnight shifts. The office is significantly emptier and quieter than during the afternoon shifts, with less officers and people bustling around inside. 

“There’s no other administrators in the building. There’s no boss with you. So if anything happens, it’s on you. I love that,”  Teevan said. 

The human body is not meant to function during the night and early hours of the morning, so Teevan prioritized sleep and fitness to prepare herself for her midnight shift. 

She plans on switching her day shifts to midnight ones again in March, this time serving as commander. 

Teevan feels like her job helped her improve her communication skills and gain appreciation for what she has. Regardless of what time her shift is, she wears her uniform with pride.

“Here in Mount Prospect, the way we train, the way we teach [and] the way we raise our young officers — I am proud to tell people I’m a Mount Prospect police officer,” Teevan said. 

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