Joseph R. Kozenczak

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Joseph R. Kozenczak (March 20, 1940 – May 13, 2015) was an American police officer who served as Chief of Police in Des Plaines, Illinois. He spent 27 years with the Des Plaines Police Department, joining in 1962 and retiring in 1989. He rose from Chief of Detectives (1978–1980) to Captain (1980–1985) and then to Chief of Police (1985–1989).

Kozenczak played a key role as lieutenant and chief investigator in the 1978 John Wayne Gacy serial murder case. In 1981 he joined the FBI Academy and later gave lectures to criminology students.

After retirement, he worked as a regional security director for TNT Express in the United States and Canada, as Vice President of Investigations for John Reid and Associates, as a Criminal Justice Specialist for the State of Illinois, and as an Illinois-licensed private investigator.

He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and died in Park Ridge, Illinois, at age 75.