oral history.... my father

Christine Olson
Oral History
September 17, 2008

My father, Robert Olson, joined the police force in June of 1966. He was a Chicago Policemen for Thirty-seven years. A loyal man who served and protected his city, not because of the benefits, but because he wanted to help make the society a safer place. His duties consisted of answering service calls, patrolling the streets of Chicago, handling domestic disputes between husbands and wives, and children and their parents. After 20 years of being on the police force, he took on parking enforcement, serving warrants, and dealing with abandoned cars. Little did he know what he was up against…. He retired in March of 2003.
How were you treated as a policeman?
“When I had to arrive at houses of domestic disputes, the parents wanted me to straighten out their children who were rebelling and misbehaving. The children feared not only me, but policemen in general. Children are not supposed to fear us; they are supposed to trust us to help them. We are not here to harm anyone, rather, we are here to protect them from any harm. Minorities stared me down and gave me dirty looks. They made me feel as if they hated me.”
Have you ever been shot at? Why?
“Yes I have. My partner and I we called to a scene because of shots fired. It took place in an alley, and as we arrived we heard the shots. We realized then, that we were being shot at. The bullets were hitting the ground directly in front of us. Luckily, no one was harmed! The building was then surrounded with backup police officers, and the individual who was doing the shooting was finally apprehended.”
Did you ever receive a promotion?
“Unfortunately, I didn’t. Promotions were only received by how much clout you had and who you knew.”
Are the benefits good?
“Well, while I was on the police force I had good medical, dental, and optical insurance for myself and my family, but as soon as I retired, my salary was cut by ¼ and I still had to pay all my bills and support my family, I had no more dental and optical insurance, and my pension was not what I had hoped for after 37 years. Legally I could have stayed on the police force longer, but I was so burnt out emotionally and physically.”
Have you ever experienced any situations that were horrifying for you?
“On a below 0 degree winter day, my partner Henry Pena and I were called to a traffic accident at Western and Granville. As we arrived, there was an Oldsmobile with steam rising from the engine, and we see the car wedged underneath a semi trailer truck. The entire car was crushed all the way to the top of the windshield. We pulled up along side of the car, but we didn’t see anyone in the driver’s seat. However, we saw steam coming from the passenger seat. As I got out to look, I saw a man’s torso in the seat, and steam coming from the neck, and his head in the back seat. I could smell the blood. Another incident that I had to experience was when I was called to an apartment for a ‘suspicious odor’ coming from the apartment. We got the manager to let us in, and the manager informed us that it was an elderly man that lived there by himself. We entered the apartment and found what appeared to be a male, obviously deceased, and severely decomposed. The poor man was blown up to 4 times his normal size. The man was deceased for a week already before he was found and the smell was unbearable. We had to put the man on the stretcher, with no elevators in the building and carry him down 3 flights of stairs. Then take him to the hospital were the doctor pronounced him D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival). Lastly we took him to the Cook County Morgue.”
How do you feel the City of Chicago treats the police department?
“It is a very thankless job, where people consider you as just a ticket writer and someone to fear, until they need your help. The things I had to endure as a Chicago Policeman, you would think that I would have better and greater benefits. The Mayor himself, is an unappreciative politician and the Alderman are all concerned about their own gains and don’t care about the interest of its city employees!”
How have you been affected by your job?
“Well for starters, the emotional affect is torture for me. To have to see the things I have seen, obviously not everyday, but it was hard to go home and put it behind me. I would come home and it would affect my family life. The physical aspect of it was my health was slowly deteriorating. I had open heart surgery in May of 1987, had extensive rehab and returned to work 4 months later. Then I had a second heart attack in November of 2000, with extensive rehab again and returned to work 3 months later. The stress from the job helped contribute to the clogging of my arteries.
During the job, were there any positive experiences besides the negatives?
“The one event that will always bring a smile to my face is the day I was directing a school crossing, I had my arms out making sure the children did not cross. When a young African American girl grabbed my hand and walked with me across the street. That made my day!”
The bottom line is, Robert Olson gave his life to his job. Almost lost his life many times for different reasons, but kept on pulling for 37 years. To me, this man is a man of greatness.