Mt. Prospect chamber leader also a private detective

Dawn Fletcher Collins of Mount Prospect isn’t your typical suburban mom. Oh sure, she’s active in several community organizations and fundraisers and is the new executive director of the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce. She also worked for 12 years at Mount Prospect School District 57, where her three children attended.
But she also packs a private detective licence. Her work as a private detective dates back to her father’s Illinois Counties Detective Agency, which he founded in 1967 in Mount Prospect. Kenneth Fletcher offered security patrols for neighborhoods, parking facilities and apartment complexes as well as investigative services for companies seeking to ferret out fraud or parents seeking information on future in-laws.
“I know sometimes it sounds really exciting and interesting and it can be,” said Fletcher Collins. “But the funny thing is, it really is a private and confidential type of work, so I don’t speak out about its details.”
She also won’t talk about whether she’s had to use a weapon during the course of her undercover work.
She’s among 1,054 licensed private detectives in Illinois and a license can be valid for three years, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which oversees the profession.
When her father died of a heart attack in 1992, Fletcher Collins took over the business with her brother, Jim Fletcher, and husband, Jay Collins. By 1997, they decided to close the business and each focused on other jobs. Jim Fletcher works security in Mount Prospect and is a singer with the The Fairlanes, which performs classic hits. Jay has remained in the investigative industry.
Now her full-time job is chamber executive director, taking over for the now-retired Jim Uszler.
“My full-time focus is all about Mount Prospect and how the chamber of commerce can support and promote our business community,” she said.