Ricahard J. Brzeczek (born October 8, 1942) is a former law enforcement official who served as
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 ...
from 1980 through 1983.
In
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
, he ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee for
Cook County State's Attorney
The Cook County State's Attorney functions as the state of Illinois's district attorney for Cook County, Illinois, and heads the second-largest prosecutor's office in the United States. The office has over 700 attorneys and 1,100 employees. In ad ...
.
Early life
Brzeczek was born October 8, 1942, in the
Humboldt Park neighborhood of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, subdivision_name ...
to Elizabeth and Raymond Brzeczek, both of
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
descent.
[ He was the eldest of three children in his family.][
Brzeczek attended St. Helen's elementary school in Chicago, attended two years at Quigley Seminary, and graduated from ]Weber High School
Weber High School is a Utah secondary school located in Pleasant View, Utah, about five miles north of Ogden. It serves the residents of Pleasant View, North Ogden, Harrisville, Huntsville, Eden, and Liberty. It is part of the Weber School ...
.[
He played ]baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
throughout his youth.[ Later on, in 1983, when ]Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kent Kuhn (; October 28, 1926 – March 15, 2007) was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, 1969, to September 30, 1984. He served as legal counsel for Ma ...
would retire as Commissioner of Baseball
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the Commiss ...
, Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...
owner Jerry Reinsdorf
Jerry Michael Reinsdorf (born February 25, 1936) is the owner of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and MLB's Chicago White Sox. He started his professional life as a tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service. He has been the owner of the White So ...
would submit Brzeczek's name as a potential replacement.[
Brzeczek married his wife Elizabeth in 1965.][
Brzeczek received a ]bachelor degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...
in biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
from Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...
.[ In 1968 he graduated from the ]Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...
with a master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in public administration
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...
.[ In 1972, he received his J.D. degree from John Marshall Law School, having participated in an accelerated 3/12 year program while working as a full-time police officer with the Chicago Police Department.][
]
Chicago Police Department career
In 1970, Brzeczek joined the Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind t ...
as a patrolman.[
]
Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department
January 11, 1980, having been appointed by mayor Jane Byrne
Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who was the first woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States. She served as the 50th Mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April ...
, Brzeczek became superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.[ At age 37, he was the youngest superintendent in the department's history.] He had only been on the force for nine years and ten months by the time he reached the top position.[
At the time he took office, he had to deal with an illegal ]Chicago Fire Department
The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) provides fire suppression, rescue services, Hazardous Materials Response services and emergency medical response services to the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chi ...
strike, and the potential for a police department strike to follow.[
His tenure received some praise. In 1993, then-superintendent Matt L. Rodriguez praised his tenure, by saying, "At the time he came into the superintendent position, the department was kind of parochial. He got the department moving out of that mode by getting the command staff into national and state police associations. And he expanded the system of training for managers. Both those things direct people's attention to what it was before and what it was when he left: state-of-the-art policing."] According to Rodriguez in 1993, Brzeczek laid a strong foundation for his successors.
During the 1983 Chicago mayoral election, Brzeczek criticized candidate 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 ma ...
, declaring that downtown streets would become unsafe under a Washington mayoralty. In April 1983, after 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 ma ...
won the election, Brzeczek tendered his resignation as superintendent, to become effective on April 29, 1983, hours before Washington would be sworn in as mayor.[
]
Controversies
=Police department torture
=
In 1982, after the torture of Andrew Wilson, a doctor that saw Wilson afterward wrote a letter to Brzeczek.
In 2006, after a four-year long investigation into allegations of torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
conducted by Jon Burge
Jon Graham Burge (December 20, 1947 – September 19, 2018) was an American police detective and commander in the Chicago Police Department who was found guilty of having "directly participated in or implicitly approved the torture" of at ...
and others in the Chicago Police Department, prosecutors concluded that as superintendent, Brzeczek was guilty of "dereliction of duty
Dereliction of duty is a specific offense under United States Code Title 10, Section 892, Article 92 and applies to all branches of the US military. A service member who is derelict has willfully refused to perform his duties (or follow a given o ...
" and had acted in bad faith
Bad faith (Latin: ''mala fides'') is a sustained form of deception which consists of entertaining or pretending to entertain one set of feelings while acting as if influenced by another."of two hearts ... a sustained form of deception whic ...
by failing to take action upon suspicions that Burge and other detectives under his command had engaged in mistreatment of prisoners. The prosecutors alleged that, while publicly praising the detectives engaging in these activities, Brzeczek held private suspicions about their activities.
=1986 indictment and acquittal
=
On March 13, 1986, Brzeczek was indicted
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...
by a Cook County grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
on 24 counts of theft
Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...
and official misconduct
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...
, which stemmed from trips he took under the pretenses of attending meetings which the Cook County State's Attorney
The Cook County State's Attorney functions as the state of Illinois's district attorney for Cook County, Illinois, and heads the second-largest prosecutor's office in the United States. The office has over 700 attorneys and 1,100 employees. In ad ...
's office alleged had never taken place. The indictment alleged he had misused $1,231 from the Chicago Police Department travel fund to travel to Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
in December 1982 and San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
in August 1982 for what he claimed were a meeting of the American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
and a law enforcement seminar. The indictment stemmed from an investigation begun two years prior after the Chicago Police Department received an anonymous tip that it should investigate its contingency fund. It was alleged by prosecutors that he used the trips to visit a girlfriend. Brzeczek claimed the charges were a politically motivated smear campaign related to the fact he ran against Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term ...
for state's attorney. Brzeczek was acquitted
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
on May 14, 1987, after Crininal Court Judge Robert Boharic found him not guilty of all counts, ruling that the financial records were kept by "bureaucratic forgers" and were not accurate enough to prove that Brzeczek had stolen city funds to visit a girlfriend.
1984 Cook County State's Attorney campaign
Brzeczek joined the Republican Party, and in 1984 ran as its nominee for Cook County State's Attorney, losing the general election to incumbent Democrat Richard M. Daley by a large margin. Brzeczek's performance in the election was regarded as disappointing, as he lost to Daley even in many Republican leaning parts of suburban Cook County.
Subsequent career
Brzeczek would open his own law practice on the Northwest Side of Chicago.
Personal life
In January 1965, he married his wife Elizabeth.[ They would have four children together, Natalie, Mark, Kevin, and Holly.][
Shortly after he became superintendent, he began a 3.5 year-long ]extramarital affair
An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...
with a flight attendant
A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...
he met on a flight. Around this time, he also suffered from excessive drinking. His personal difficulties would lead him to twice admit himself to a psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
.
Written works
In 1987, Brzeczek and his wife, Elizabeth, along with Sharon De Vita, co-authored the book ''Addicted to Adultery: How We Saved Our Marriage/How You Can Save Yours".
Electoral history
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brzeczek, Richard J.
Superintendents of the Chicago Police Department
1942 births
Illinois Republicans
Living people
Loyola University Chicago alumni
Illinois Institute of Technology alumni
University of Illinois Chicago School of Law alumni
Writers from Illinois