Lou Tessmann

Lou Tessmann, CFI retired from the Waukegan (Illinois) Police Department after 23 years of service in a wide variety of assignments, including patrol, investigations, training, and ultimately Deputy Chief of Police.

Lou is a 26-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, retiring as a CWO-4. In addition to his service in Vietnam he was activated for Desert Storm and Desert Shield and has received numerous military awards including the Naval Commendation Medal. Lou began his career as a police officer with the City of Waukegan assigned to the patrol division. He was later assigned to the detective bureau for nine years and as a juvenile officer for one year. Lou also served as the Commander of the elite Lake County Major Crime Task Force. The task force works on major criminal investigations relating to homicides, kidnappings, and police-involved shootings. During his career, he has conducted thousands of interviews and interrogations. Most noteworthy, Lou has obtained over 80 homicide confessions during his career with only three instances where he was unable to obtain a confession from the homicide suspect.

Lou has delivered seminars to police and private security organizations throughout the country, as well as internationally in locations such as Tokyo, Japan. He has been a guest speaker on programs such as the Discovery Channel, Real Detective and America’s Most Wanted. Lou’s work was featured in a Dateline NBC story about convicted child molester Arthur Ream and the unsolved 22-year old murder case of a 13-year old girl in Eastpointe, Michigan. Lou assisted local law enforcement with an interrogation of this suspect. His efforts resulted in a first-degree murder conviction, a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, and the subsequent recovery of the victim’s body. To-date, Lou continues to assist agencies throughout the country with homicides investigations.

Lou graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a B.A. degree in English and Physical Education and is a member of numerous professional and training organizations, including the International Homicide Investigators Association.