old leo pics

[Banjoboy]

I'm glad it did.

I have a photo of him standing beside a new 1957 Chevy patrol car somewhere too.

Well, post it up....

 

[ob1ventura]

Awesome thread orbframe :thubup

Now MORE!!!
Can we post up some modern ones as a contrast to then and now?

Thanks H.H!

Trouble w/ posting the modern ones is after looking at High Sides picture of his Dad and bike it appears as though the bikes (harleys) would look exactly the same

 

[ob1ventura]

I know nothing about the car, so I just called and asked my mother. She said he started as a volunteer cop after he got out of the Army and when she was a young child, in the early 1950s. While I always thought he only volunteered for a few years, she said he continued into the late 1960s or early 1970s.

He was also the owner of his own grocery store during part of that time, and had to deal with some of the Chicago mafia. He loved to tell us stories when we were kids and there were a couple "wiseguys" I met at the store when I was little [in the mid 1970s]. Damn, I miss my grandpa.

Sorry he's not on a motorcycle, though. It didn't occur to me until this morning that all the other pictures were of/on motorcycles. I was just so giddy to share a picture of my grandpa from his police days.

You need to take your Mom out to dinner and listen to more family history.

All the photos in this thread are just incredible.

You need to take your Mom out to dinner and listen to more family history.

 

[ob1ventura]

my great-grandpa. he was an officer in chicago back in the 20's. im not 100% sure, but i was told the bike in the pic is an indian.

I don't know when officers started riding motos on duty. Looks as though your Grand Father may be one of the originals. Maybe Silversvs knows when LEOs first started riding.

Great shot.....thanks.

 

[wingnutthehutt]

...we have no date for this photo:

I'm gonna take an educated shot in the dark and say the car is late 40s.

 

[Kornholio]

Looks like about 1908. Official is 1911 and a local town, too!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_motorcycle

 

[kevin 714]

 

[watsgowinon]

 

[firstbuell]

could we please examine the rather alarming concept of 'volunteer policeman' ?

 

[Dr. Evil]

What's so alarming about it? They're just unpaid reservists out in the sticks where governments don't have the budget to afford all the full-timers they need, same as volunteer firefighters.

 

[Lylith]

my great-grandpa. he was an officer in chicago back in the 20's. im not 100% sure, but i was told the bike in the pic is an indian.

That is a ~fantastic~ photo! for Chicago. Being a cop in Chicago in the '20s must have been a roaring good time. Was he alive when you were a kid? Were you able to talk to him about his experiences?

You need to take your Mom out to dinner and listen to more family history.

I would, but she's still in the south 'burbs of Chicago. I really wish I would have been able to record my Zadie's [Yiddish for grandfather] stories from when he worked at/owned the grocery store and had to deal with the mafia guys. He stood his ground though and had some life time 'connections'.

I'm gonna take an educated shot in the dark and say the car is late 40s.

Quite possibly. He didn't start until after he got out of the Army after the end of WWII - and after my mother was born in 1948.

could we please examine the rather alarming concept of 'volunteer policeman' ?

He volunteered in Midlothian, one of the south suburbs of Chicago. The town was still growing and I'm sure didn't have a lot of money to pay a large, full time police force. Plus he was also working for my great-grandfather at his grocery store, which he eventually took over. I lived in Midlothian for a year or so - my first [oh-so-crappy] apartment. The squads all had a horizontal tartan stripe down the side.

What's so alarming about it? They're just unpaid reservists out in the sticks where governments don't have the budget to afford all the full-timers they need, same as volunteer firefighters.

+1 Thank you.

 

[Schtum]

I lived in Midlothian for a year or so - my first [oh-so-crappy] apartment. The squads all had a horizontal tartan stripe down the side.

At least they kept some kind of link to the original Midlothian then. I wonder which tartan it was.... The original Midlothian was and is a county just outside Edinburgh, Scotland. There are three Lothians - Mid, East and West.

 

[Brown81]

Awesome pics!

old leo pic

 

[Lylith]

At least they kept some kind of link to the original Midlothian then. I wonder which tartan it was.... The original Midlothian was and is a county just outside Edinburgh, Scotland. There are three Lothians - Mid, East and West.

One thing about the neighborhoods within Chicago and the surrounding suburbs that were settled by a group of people with a specific heritage, you can see it proudly displayed everywhere. Midlothian is really Scottish, Posen [another south burb] was heavily Polish when I was growing up, south side of Chicago has a huge Irish population known as "south side Irish" and there's a huge China Town in Chicago too. Even Boys Town, in Chicago, is proudly marked with rainbow spires. ;-]

Next time I go home, I'll try to get a picture of one of the squads if they still have the tartan. I couldn't find one via Google.