CLick On the pictures to see full size versions. Long ago there was a young lady I had the hots for in a big way (Yes, I know that hots is not a word). She was pretty, incredibly bright, and had some real elegance about her. She had a love for children and basic kindness that you don’t often see in someone her age. I met her parents and could understand she came from a much more stable home than mine. I was raised by a single, welfare mom and suddenly found myself way out-classed. For whatever reasons things did not workout they way I had hoped. Sadly for me, we went on our separate ways. From time to time I’d run into this lady in various places where our job had taken us. Whenever this happened my heart would skip a beat or two. I left my hometown Chicago, and moved to Arizona where I founded my detective agency. As a private eye and soon a TV news producer too, my career took me to the highest profile criminal events in Arizona and throughout the country. There’s no question that ...
Comments
An on-duty Chicago police officer died early Wednesday after a woman took his gun and shot him near a Northwest Side police station. The woman was then shot and wounded by responding officers.
A Belmont District patrol officer was fatally shot about 2 a.m. near the intersection of Belmont and Western avenues, police Supt. Jody Weis said during a press conference.
Richard Francis, 60, of an unknown home address, was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 2:57 a.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said.
The officer, on routine patrol, was at the scene of a “disturbance” and approached a woman. A struggle then ensued between the officer and the woman and she grabbed the officer’s service weapon and shot him, Weis said.
The woman then threatened responding officers, who shot and wounded her, according to Weis.
The officer was initially taken to Illinois Masonic in critical condition, Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said.
The shooting happened near Belmont Area headquarters, at the 2400 block West Belmont Avenue.
RIP Officer Richard Francis
Bob Gordon, father of Fallen Chicago Officer:
Michael P. Gordon, EOW: 8/8/04
Are one-person patrols too dangerous?
RICHARD FRANCIS | Some question safety
Chicago Police Officer Richard M. Francis was patrolling alone when he was shot to death -- renewing decades-old questions about the department's use of "one-man cars."
Thirty-five years ago, after Officer Robert F. Wenzel was killed, the Fraternal Order of Police and others blasted the department for allowing officers to patrol alone, saying they needed a partner to back them up in dangerous situations.
RELATED STORIESWoman charged, brother apologizes A final salute for a good cop Friends remember Francis as 'kindest person' Suspect in cop shooting was mentally ill
Wenzel, 36, was shot in his squad car after he stopped a car for a traffic check Jan. 19, 1973. His killer, Richard Luckey, now 80, is still in prison.
Hours after Wenzel was killed, then-Police Supt. James B. Conlisk Jr. announced that "as soon as possible," all patrol and traffic division cars would have two officers on after-dark shifts.
The FOP had encouraged officers to refuse to work in one-man cars regardless of the time of day, calling them "rolling coffins."
On Nov. 28, 1989, Supt. LeRoy Martin addressed the "confusion" about one-man cars:
"There is a need for both one-officer and two-officer patrol car operations. [But] during the hours of darkness, district patrol units will normally have two officers assigned, unless operational requirements dictate otherwise."
A sergeant said he frowns on one-man cars at night for safety reasons, but they're still allowed because of manpower shortages and because some officers prefer to work alone.
"I've never seen things this bad, manpower-wise, in a long time," a commander said.
A spokeswoman for Police Supt. Jody Weis declined comment.
Francis, 60, normally worked with a partner in a squadrol -- a police wagon -- but opted to work alone in a squad car on his early-morning shift Wednesday because his partner was off duty. He was killed while responding to a disturbance involving a CTA bus. A mentally ill woman disarmed Francis and shot him in the head, police said.
A two-officer squad car was about a block away when Francis called for assistance. The arriving officers shot the woman, identified as Robin Johnson, 44, when she threatened them, police said. She remains in critical condition
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1040182,CST-NWS-copcars04.article#