With a new police chief in Waterloo stepping into his role just last month, it was recently learned that the heads of two local police departments share a long and close history stretching back to their college days.

As recently reported, Waterloo Police Chief Dane Luke is originally from Milford, which is a village near Champaign roughly the size of Valmeyer.

Luke previously explained that he wound up in law enforcement – a personal interest since he was quite young – after attempting to pursue a more technical field.

“When I was young, I was always interested in that, even in grade school and high school,” Luke said. “Somewhere along the way, when I went to college I wanted to pursue the industrial technology degree, and when I finished it I decided I just didn’t want to do that. I wanted to go back to what I originally wanted to do. I kinda had a passion for it, and it worked out.”

Columbia Police Chief Jason Donjon, in contrast to Luke, was born and raised locally, growing up in Waterloo.

He said his interest in law enforcement came about as he was inspired by a slightly older neighbor – a strong Waterloo High School athlete whom he admired – who later became an officer.

Donjon added that, even at an early age, he recognized he wasn’t interested in staying cooped up in an office.

“I remember, in grade school, going on a field trip one time… just being outside and thinking ‘Whatever I do when I get older, I want to be outside somewhere and not in an office,’” Donjon said. “Which it’s kind of funny now because, in my position, I’m in the office now probably more than I am out.”

For their higher education, Luke and Donjon both found themselves attending Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

They managed to orbit one another throughout their education, though they only properly met once they left the school and both made their way to police academy.

Encountering each other during their training proved to be the start of a friendship now pushing 20 years.

“We even realized that we knew friends – we didn’t know each other but people we knew knew each other,” Luke said. “Basically we just developed a friendship in the academy.”

As both chiefs recalled, they had a friendly rivalry throughout their training, both pushing themselves to be better academically and physically.

“Out of all of us in the academy, I was the closest to Dane,” Donjon said. “We would challenge each other every single time, in academics but especially the physical fitness we’d do every morning… I will say, begrudgingly, he kind of edged me out in that ring, but it was a lot of fun, and that was some of my favorite memories of the academy was just being with Dane.”

Luke also offered his perspective on how they would butt heads.

“There was a good competition between us, both academically and the physical fitness,” Luke said. “He pushed me harder, but he was always trying to catch me. That made me work harder. There’s an award at the end of the academy that they give out, a physical fitness award, and I did end up beating him out just by a little bit.”

The two officers continued to keep in touch over the years as they furthered their careers.

Luke began his police work in Cahokia before headed over to Waterloo while Donjon jumped from Alton to Columbia.

They also followed similar career paths, though Luke seemed to be, lightly behind over the years as they both spent time as sergeants, detectives and deputy chiefs before taking over as neighboring police chiefs.

They both recalled how they kept in contact over those years, chatting about cases and other aspects of the job.

Donjon had only kind words to say about his friend and his future as Waterloo’s police chief.

“Throughout the years, our whole career we’ve just kind of kept up with each other and remained friends,” Donjon said. “I’m absolutely thrilled that he’s the chief for Waterloo, and I have no doubt in my mind that he’s gonna do a great job, and I wish him all the best.”