Meet Dominick

Dominick Barcellona was born and raised in Winnebago County, IL. While attending high school, he recognized an interest in law enforcement and began preparing for his career. He enrolled at Rock Valley College and worked full-time in various roles within the private security industry, such as a patrol officer at the gated community of Candlewick Lake Subdivision in Boone County, IL. At age nineteen, he held the rank of Sergeant with Pinkerton Security and completed an internship with the Loves Park Police Department.

Dominick was hired by the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office in 1996. For the first two years with the Sheriff’s Office, he served in the Corrections Bureau and in 1998 moved to the Patrol Bureau where he received the Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Award from Basic Law Enforcement class #1545. During his time in the patrol bureau, he served as a Field Training Officer where he trained and mentored many Deputy recruits. Dominick was one of the original members of the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team. He also served as a certified FBI Firearms Instructor where he assisted in several departmental trainings and firearms qualifications for department personnel. After serving several years as a SWAT Operator, Dominick served as a Team Leader with the SWAT Team and was a certified instructor in Basic SWAT Tactics, Advanced SWAT Tactics, and Rapid Deployment Tactics and participated in instructing several training classes in the Winnebago County Region. During Sheriff Richard Meyer’s administration, Dominick worked in the street crimes unit that was responsible for conducting proactive police work to target the most problematic crime issues.

In 2009, Dominick was promoted to the rank of sergeant. During his time as sergeant, he led patrol shifts, the street crime unit and supervised the 911 center. In 2016 Dominick was promoted to Lieutenant and a short time later was appointed to Deputy Chief under Sheriff Gary Caruana, where he was the Commander of the Patrol Operations. During this assignment, Dominick was responsible for the strategic planning of the day-to-day patrol operations, management of the department fleet of vehicles, the planning of special events, procurement of equipment, the Honor Guard Team, the K9 unit, the Regional Accident Reconstruction Team, Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team, Field Training Unit, SWAT Team, department liaison for the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System(ILEAS) and was a member of the negotiations team for the Fraternal Order of Police union contracts. Dominick was instrumental in the development and implementation of the first SWAT Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Manual in June of 2023.

Dominick has obtained an A.A.S in Police Science from Rock Valley College. Dominick has received the FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Award, which includes successful completion of the FBI-LEEDA Supervisor Leadership Institute, FBI-LEEDA Command Leadership Institute, and the FBI-LEEDA Executive Leadership Institute. Dominick has successfully completed several courses with the National Tactical Officers Association to include SWAT Command and Leadership I and II and Risk Management of SWAT. Dominick is a graduate of the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety School of Police Staff and Command class #410 and a graduate of the FBI National Academy class #278 in Quantico, VA.

During Dominick’s service with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, he has received several letters of commendation which include a lifesaving incident, forcible felony arrests, and is a two-time recipient of the VFW Officer of the Year Award. He has been recognized by the Illinois Department of Transportation for his exemplary performance of DUI Enforcement.

Dominick retired from the Sheriff’s Office after twenty-seven and a half years of dedicated service to the citizens of Winnebago County. Currently, he works in private security and resides in Winnebago County with his wife and son who also works in Law Enforcement. Dominick still has a passion for serving the community and looks forward to applying all his years of experience and training serving as your next Sheriff in Winnebago County, IL.