Ralph DeBartolo This is Me

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1. 1. Daily Herald

   www.dailyherald.com/dupage/mai - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/30/2004   Last Visited: 5/31/2004

   Chief Ralph DeBartolo, Italian American Police Association president, also spoke of Kristen's courage.
   
   "She lived and learned more in 18 years than other people do in a lifetime," he said. "She had an immense strength of spirit, never gave up and kept her infectious smile and energy."
   
   Before DeBartolo met Kristen, he asked Pesoli's help to find a hero the association could honor with an award. There was no debate over who the honoree would be.
   
   "In her, we found not only a hero but an angel," DeBartolo said.

2. 2. www.cousinspicnic.org

   www.cousinspicnic.org/cache/JO - [Cached]

   Last Visited: 5/24/2007

   Awards Ceremony in which Ralph DeBartolo will be named 2004 "Man of the Year"; and WHEREAS, Ralph DeBartolo is one of the founding members of the
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   From 1978 to 1990, Ralph served as the association's chairman of the board, and in 1990 he was elected its president -- a role which he ably fills to this day; and WHEREAS, Ralph DeBartolo joined the Chicago Police Department after having served his country honorably and ably for eighteen months in the Korean War. H e
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   WHEREAS, In 1962 Officer Ralph DeBartolo began to be noticed and accredited with much diligent police work. He was also cited when he arrested a dangerous criminal who was responsible for over thirty armed robberies and burglaries. In 1963, Ralph DeBartolo was promoted and became one of the youngest vice detectives in the department; and WHEREAS, Ralph DeBartolo has spent forty-seven years in law enforcement. His last eighteen years as a Chicago Police Officer were spent as a bodyguard for the Director of Psychiatry for the Cook County Court, where he was often called upon to confront and restrain many dangerous criminals of challenged mental competency. After retiring from the department, he continues with the Cook County Sheriffs Department, where, in his fifteenth year of service there, he is chief of the Third Municipal District in Rolling Meadows; and WHEREAS, Ralph DeBartolo belongs to many organizations and is the recipient of numerous awards and citations, including the Sons of Italy's Law Enforcement Officer of the Year (1997) Award, and the Governor's Award for aiding the handicapped and mentally challenged at Dixon State Hospital; and WHEREAS, Ralph DeBartolo exemplifies the highest standards of public service
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   WHEREAS, Ralph DeBartolo and his lovely wife, Helen, have been married
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   Ralph DeBartolo of the Cook County Sheriffs Department by the Italian-American Police Association of Illinois, and we extend to this towering citizen our sincere gratitude and our best wishes for his continuing success and fulfillment; and B e It Further Resolved, That a suitable copy of this resolution be prepared and presented to Chief Ralph DeBartolo of the Cook County Sheriffs Department.
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   Raphael and the late

3. 3. The Italian American Police Association 3 Decades of service (IPSN 97-4-28)

   www.ipsn.org/italcop.html - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/31/1999   Last Visited: 11/4/2002

   Ralph DeBartolo, President of the Italian-American Police Association estimates that there were at least 2,200 Chicago Police officers of Italian heritage working in the department at the time his organization was founded in 1963. The Italians, though strong in number, were poorly represented within the department's hierarchy.
   
   Though he is reluctant to point the finger at specific groups or individuals, DeBartolo admits that the decision to form a police association comprised of Italian-American law enforcement officers had everything to do with addressing the promotional inadequacies within the department, and the negative stereotypes of hard-working Italian-Americans as "Mafiosi."
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   DeBartolo believes that officers of Italian descent were shut out of the mainstream in those days for self-serving political reasons - to reserve the key appointive offices within the department for the friends of Daley and his legendary Chicago "machine."
   
   That situation corrected itself over a period of time, but the Italian-American Police Association has endured as a fraternal and civic organization promoting social and cultural ties amongst law enforcement officers from all over Northeast Illinois. According to DeBartolo, a retired Chicago Police officer who is now attached to the Cook County Sheriff's civil process unit in Skokie, the organization is flourishing once again.
   
   In its heyday thirty years ago, I.A. P.A.'s ranks swelled to 800. But like the other ethnic societies within law enforcement that thrived for years only to experience contraction pains, there had been a corresponding drop-off in membership for the usual stated reasons: apathy among younger police officers, changing attitudes toward a distant European culture that becomes more and more remote as time goes by, and competition from other groups and organizations.
   
   Enrollment in the Italian-American Police Association slipped below 200 in 1992 just before DeBartolo took over the reins of leadership. There were concerns that the organization had lost its vitality - and was no longer relevant; a casualty of the changing times. "I didn't want to see this go down," DeBartolo states with conviction. "My priority as president was geared toward membership drives - imparting the message to our younger officers all that we stand for, and that is, where there is unity, there is strength."
   
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   Three years ago I.A.P.A. President Ralph DeBartolo conceived the idea of awarding an honorary membership and scholarship money to a child in desperate need. Seven-year-old Cody Trothaupt a leukemia victim, was the first youngster chosen in 1995.
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   DeBartolo's 6-year-old grandson Brett has struck a friendship with Brandon, whose daily existence is scarred by continuing health miseries.
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   DeBartolo would like to see the membership top out at 800 before he steps down in the next year. That has been the goal of this veteran street cop since taking over as president five years ago.
   
   Ralph is understandably proud of his I.A.P.A. accomplishments, and is still very close to his ethnic heritage. He grew up in the old Italian quarter near Taylor Street and Damen Avenue at a time when the Italians were still the dominant group along the Near West Side corridor. His mother emigrated from Calabria, Italy in 1929, and his dad was a neighborhood businessman.
   
   DeBartolo took the police exam in 1956 with his best friend John Duffy who served in the Chicago P.D. for many years.
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   DeBartolo vividly recalls the grueling interrogation process as he roamed from building to building questioning residents whose apartment units faced the lake about the gruesome murder.
   
   Later on he was sent to Wood Street where he worked vice under Commander James Kosefelt. "Now there was a hell of a good commander.
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   DeBartolo does not mince words as he ponders what is going on these days in the Austin District. "Austin...it may be the new Summerdale," he adds. "But when a cop takes drug money he is the scum of the department and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent. We tell our members never to cross the line - and if they do, we also tell them not to bother calling us - call a lawyer instead."
   
   After Wood Street, DeBartolo was transferred into the Loop traffic division - a three year assignment that ended in 1971 when he was added to the bodyguard detail protecting Edward Kelleher, a Cook County medical director whose task was to interview the city's most dangerous felons and draw up a psychological profile. DeBartolo did this for 18 years, and then went over to the Cook County Sheriff as a process server.
   
   Ralph admits there are fewer challenges today than five years ago when he took over as president of this fine association. Membership is up and he has re-shaped the Board of Directors by bringing in younger, more aggressive officers.
   
   The issues of concern thirty-five-years ago have been properly addressed. "From our standpoint, unity within the Chicago P.D. has been achieved," he adds. "There should be no ethnic prejudice - of any kind. There was a lot of it back then among some of the old timers. But you just don't see that now."
   
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