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14 unusual facts about Chicago Police Department


Chicago Crime Commission

The Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Public School System and other government agencies use The Gang Book in their law enforcement training programs.

Chicago Teachers Union

It asked the Chicago Police Department to station an officer in each of Chicago's 43 high schools; CPD refused.

Crime mapping

Research into computer-based crime mapping started in 1986, when the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) funded a project in the Chicago Police Department to explore crime mapping as an adjunct to community policing.

Friendship and Freedom

As a result, Gerber's room in a boardinghouse was raided by the Chicago Police Department in July 1925, and everything associated with the publication of the newsletter, including Gerber's typewriter and his personal diaries, were seized.

Garry McCarthy

Garry Francis McCarthy (born May 4, 1959) is the current Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.

IBM 1440

Notable installations included a high end 1440 at the Chicago Police Department installed by reformist superintendent Orlando Winfield Wilson in the early 1960s.

James F. Pastor

Dr. Pastor started his career with the Chicago Police Department where he served as a tactical police officer in the Gang Crime Enforcement unit combating Chicago gangs including the El Rukn, a group with ties to international terrorist groups.

Marie Owens

Marie Owens (1853-1927) is believed to have been the first female police officer in the U.S., joining the Chicago Police Department in 1891, and retiring in 1923.

Paul von Zielbauer

Zielbauer began his journalism career in 1992 at the City News Bureau of Chicago, covering homicides, fires and, on the overnight shift, the Chicago Police Department.

Prentice Marshall

During his tenure on the bench, Marshall became known—by his own admission—as an activist judge, ordering the Chicago Police Department in 1976 to hire women and stop discrimination against black and Hispanic officers.

Ron Huberman

In 1995, Huberman was promoted to Assistant Deputy Superintendent, becoming one of the youngest officers to reach exempt rank in the history of the Chicago Police Department.

The Negotiator

Lieutenant Danny Roman (Samuel L. Jackson), a top Chicago Police Department hostage negotiator, is approached by colleague Nathan Roenick (Paul Guilfoyle) who warns him that large sums of money are being embezzled from the department's disability fund, for which Roman is a board member, and members of their own unit are involved.

Tony Mullane

After his baseball career, Mullane went on to join the Chicago Police Department, from which he retired in 1924.

Violet ray

Jon Burge of the Chicago Police Department, who was dismissed in 1992 following allegations of torture of suspects by Burge and detectives working under him in the 1970s and 1980s, may have used a violet ray.


Comparison microscope

Colonel Goddard was the key forensic expert in solving the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre in which seven gangsters were killed by rival Al Capone mobsters dressed as Chicago police officers.

Harry Osterman

Osterman began his career as an aide to 48th ward Alderman Mary Ann Smith, then he worked as a staff liaison to the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County State's Attorney’s Office.

J. J. Bittenbinder

Bittenbinder (born September 1, 1943 in Buffalo, New York) a retired member of the Chicago Police Department, safety speaker, and author; best known for his work as the host of the 1990s crime series Tough Target and as a public speaker on the subject of safety.