Nicolai Jilek

Nicolai Jilek has served as Commissioner of the Department of Criminal Justice Training (DOCJT) since he was appointed by Governor Andy Beshear in February 2020.

Under his administration, DOCJT has achieved several significant goals. Among them is lobbying for and receiving funding to construct the Jody Cash Multipurpose Training Center, scheduled to open in 2025. Commissioner Jilek also has guided the expansion of online training and launch of the Law Enforcement Training and Reporting System.

Prior to joining DOCJT, Jilek served as president of the largest police union in Kentucky, the River City Fraternal Order of Police (RCFOP) and as a sergeant with the Louisville Metro Police Department.

As president of the 2,500-member RCFOP, Jilek was responsible for mediating disputes between the department administration and its sworn members and for enforcing existing labor contracts. He also served as a legislative agent for the Kentucky State Fraternal Order of Police. In this role, he traveled the state to develop and strengthen working relationships with community leaders, elected officials and news media across the Commonwealth and advocated for law enforcement issues such as public employee pensions at the local, state, and national levels. Jilek also sat on the Labor Committee and the Urban Cities Committee for the National Fraternal Order of Police, which allowed him to shed light on law enforcement issues at a nationwide level.

Jilek’s background at LMPD includes time spent in patrol and as a plainclothes detective in a division flex platoon investigating narcotic offenders and assisting division detectives.

Previously, Jilek was an officer and detective for the Danville Police Department. He was also a member of the special response team and a firearms instructor for the agency.

Jilek obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky, which he earned with honors, and graduated the National Forensic Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee. Additionally, he completed the 1,280-hour Kentucky Police Corps program at DOCJT in 2002 and the Louisville Metro Police Academy in 2007.

Jilek and his wife, Tami, a proud public-school teacher, have two young daughters, Sophia and Zoe.