Page 24 - 2018 July Newsletter

Portraits by Peter Bucks
Tributes to officers from the CPD Officer, Lodge 7 member and renowned artist
n BY AMBER RAMUNDO
Officers on the Rush Division Detail got to know Rick Wolowicz by name during the eight years that he tended bar at The Lodge Tavern on the corner of Division and State Street. The two profes- sions naturally collided in the early hours of the morning, after Wolowicz closed out the final bar tabs and the officers walked the area to make sure the late-night crowds safely found their ways home.
The more that Wolowicz got to know the Chicago Police Depart- ment officers, the more he began to consider what it would be like to be on the job. So, when some of the officers recommended that he take the CPD entrance exam test, he didn’t hesitate to give it a shot.
“I kind of always thought about going on but never really com- mitted to the idea of becoming a cop until I was getting to know a bunch of the (CPD) guys and dis- covered it was something that I would want to do,” Wolowicz re- calls.
helped him adjust to the job. Plus, starting at age 31 gave Wolowicz a certain sense of authoritative confidence that some of the other young rookie officers take more time to develop.
“I had a level of maturity. I knew how to handle myself,” Wolowicz stresses.
But even the smoothest talk- ers and most self-aware officers are thrown into dangerous situa- tions that are out of their control sometimes. Wolowicz will never forget the night he found that out, when he responded to a call for a man with a knife in a dark vacant building. The structure’s multiple doorways and angled hallways made it tricky to search. The sus- pect emerged suddenly from the shadows with a serrated bread knife and stabbed Wolowicz in the neck.
“You’re in a dark building, won- dering what’s going on around the next corner and you’re scared to a degree,” he explains. “But you learn to mask it. It’s just part of the job.”
Wolowicz can tell how much time has passed since the inci- dent by the fading of the scar on his neck, but the recollection of
From bar to badge
It was almost meant to be that
Wolowicz would return to the city
where he was born after growing up Wisconsin. In 1990, following his graduation from the University of Wisconsin, Wolowicz moved back with family members. He tightened his
tie and buttoned his sports coat for the business world. It only took a year of walking the business beat for Wolowicz to realize it wasn’t for him, and he shifted scenes for later nights and a much livelier clientele, tending bar at The Lodge.
Looking back, Wolowicz is able to spot similarities between the years he spent working at the bar and his career in law enforce- ment. There’s the shiftwork for starters. Wolowicz was used to spending the night on his feet. By the time the bars closed at 4 a.m. and Wolowicz returned home, he’d be going to bed practically as the sun was rising.
And then there’s the nature of both jobs that often calls for taking on the role of therapists, listening to civilians’ problems and help- ing them find solutions.
“I like to use the analogy that before I became a cop, I spent eight years being a counselor behind the bar,” Wolowicz admits. “You lis- ten to so much. It’s the same thing on the job, except a lot of the time their problems are criminal.”
When Wolowicz was hired on April 13, 1998 and went to work in the 024, his ability to talk to people and deal with conflict naturally
24 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JULY 2018
RICHARD “RICK”
WOLOWICZ
Star #14633
that night stuck with him on each assignment that he held over his career from working late rapid car to robbery mission and eventually being assigned to the Gang Team in 024. In 2009, Wolowicz was assigned to the Gang Enforcement Division on the North Side where he met Peter Bucks, the artist of this portrait, on the job. Along the way, each partner that Wolowicz had on the job
taught him new qualities that made him a stronger police officer. “I have had the privilege of working with a few different partners throughout my career and have had the ability to learn different
ways of doing my job from each of them,” Wolowicz stresses.
In 2015, Wolowicz met his wife, Julie, and expanded his connec- tion to law enforcement by becoming the son-in-law of CPD veter-
an Jack Weller who retired after 30 strong years of service.
Now approaching more then 20 years on the job, Wolowicz can suddenly see that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel as he gets closer to retirement. But Wolowicz is content knowing he still has years to go in this exciting career that has both built his livelihood
and connected him with a meaningful family behind the badge.
“I turned that lightbulb on at the end of the tunnel and you start looking toward the end of your career,” he notes. “But in the mean- time, you want to help make the world a more positive place and try
your best until it’s time to retire.” d