Fred Rice, Jr. (December 24, 1926 – January 10, 2011) was an American police officer for the Chicago Police Department who also served as superintendent of the department from August 1983 until November 1987. Rice is noted as the first permanent African-American to head the Chicago Police Department ( Samuel Nolan was the first African-American to serve as superintendent in an interim capacity, doing so from late–1979 until January 1980).

Early life

Rice was born December 24, 1926, in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to Leola Mosely and Fred Rice, Sr. Rice was raised in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Rice attended John Farren Elementary School and Edward Hartigan Elementary School before graduating from

DuSable High School Jean Baptiste Point DuSable High School is a public four-year high school campus located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. DuSable is owned by the Chicago Public Schools district. The school ...

(now known as DuSable Leadership Academy) in 1945.DuSable High School Final Report
/ref> Years after high school, Rice served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

for two years in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, from 1950 to 1952. Rice received two

battle stars A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

, a combat infantry badge, and special commendation from the government of South Korea. Prior to passing

Chicago Park District The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, several boat harbors, two botanic conservatorie ...

police examination in 1955, Rice worked for the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

in Chicago.

Police career

In 1955, Rice took a job as a patrol officer in the Chicago Park District police force, which was merged with the Chicago Police Department in 1959, at which time he joined the Chicago Police Department. During his time as a police officer, Rice received his undergraduate and master's degree from

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The unive ...

, and also graduated from the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

's Federal Executive Institute. Rice rose up the ranks of the police department. Rice was promoted to the role of sergeant, and later to the role of civil service captain. By early-1983, Rice had become the department's chief of patrol.

Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department

On August 27, 1983, Rice was appointed

Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department The following is a list of heads of the Chicago Police Department. Currently the executive of the Chicago Police Department is referred to as a "Superintendent of Police". Preceding titles included High Constable, City Marshall, General Superint ...

Harold Washington Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st Mayor of Chicago. Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city's mayor in April 1983. He served as may ...

, first African-American mayor of Chicago, who had only been sworn in as mayor months earlier. The department was overwhelming

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

. Rice was the first African-American person to serve as permanent head of the Chicago Police Department (before him, Samuel Nolan had served a few weeks as interim superintendent in 1979 and 1980). Washington sought to see the department reformed, including ending the de facto

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

within the force. Rice's efforts to implement integration within the police patrols was met with resistance from rank-and-file officers, who protested by slowing down ticket-writing. With the backing of the mayor, Rice stood up to this resistance. Rice was named in a number of lawsuits where former ranking White officers alleged discrimination, arguing that they had been demoted because they were White and had politically opposed Harold Washington. However, Rice, was cleared in courts of any wrongdoing. Rice's tenure saw a decrease in the departments use of firearms, and a decrease in the number of

disorderly conduct Disorderly conduct is a crime in most jurisdictions in the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan. Typically, "disorderly conduct" makes it a crime to be drunk in public, to " disturb the peace", or to loiter in certain are ...

arrests, which had been considered a cause of tension between the police and the populations of minority neighborhoods. Rice was a founding member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. Rice retired as superintendent effective November 1, 1987, ending his 32-year career as a Chicago police officer.

Subsequent career

After retiring from the Chicago Police Department in 1987, Rice served as an adjunct professor of

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

from 1990 until 2001.

Personal life and death

Rice was married once and had two children. From 1955 until his death, Rice was married to Thelma Dean Martin. Together, they had two children, a son named Lyle and a daughter named Judith. In 2001, Rice was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

. After an almost ten-year long battle with the cancer, Rice died January 10, 2011, at ManorCare Health Services in

Palos Heights, Illinois Palos Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a southwest suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 12,068. Geography According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Palos Heights has a total area of , of ...

. Rice was buried at

Oak Woods Cemetery Oak Woods Cemetery is a large lawn cemetery in Chicago, Illinois. Located at 1035 E. 67th Street, in the Greater Grand Crossing area of Chicago's South Side. Established on February 12, 1853, it covers . Oak Woods is the final resting place o ...

in Chicago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Fred, Sr. 1926 births 2011 deaths Deaths from lung cancer Superintendents of the Chicago Police Department Roosevelt University alumni African-American police officers University of Illinois faculty United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of the Korean War Deaths from cancer in Illinois