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Flood Led Police To First Wins. |
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BACK IN THE
DAYS when police labor relations were marked by the infamous handshake
agreement' school of negotiations, John J. Flood, founder end President of
the Combined Counties Police Association, taught his fellow police that they
could win what they wanted by organizing and standing up for their rights. Back in
those early days of the police labor movement (it's only 20 years measured by
the calendar, but a lifetime measured by the improved benefits), Flood was
considered a controversial troublemaker by those who held the decision-making
power over police in Northern Illinois. Today, he is considered a labor
statesman of the first order. Flood
started his police career as a just out-of-the-Army Patrol Officer with the
Wheeling Police Department. At the unusually early age of 23, Flood was
handpicked by then-Sheriff Richard Ogilvie to help rebuild the Cook County
Police Department. Under Ogilvie, Flood served as Supervisor in charge of
Detectives in Northern Cook Co, Supervisor in Charge of Vice, and
distinguished himself with a series of successful arrests of major organized
crime figures of that early '60s era. At the
time, Flood's attention-getting busts drew the praise and recognition of the
Chicago Crime Commission. He was cited in the Commission's Annual Report
publications for his work in going after organized crime figures and bringing
them, sometimes literally kicking and screaming ,into court. WHILE
STILL IN his twenties, Flood became widely recognized as an authority on
organized crime, its members and its insidious activities. BUT JOHN
J. FLOOD'S greatest accomplishments came in the arena of organized labor.
After his mentor in the Sheriff's Department, Richard Ogilvie, went on to
become Governor, Flood and a handful of fellow police set up a fledgling
group then known as the Cook County Police Association. Working from humble
offices and virtually around the clock, they pressed demands for police
rights of a sort that were simply unheard of in the State of Illinois at that
time. Flood
taught his fellow officers the art of confrontation, negotiation, militant
action where necessary, and reconciliation. Incredibly, the successes of the
group mounted up one after another and police contracts were being signed
that brought unheard-of benefits to law enforcement work. Obviously, there
were setbacks and frustrations along the way but overall, CCPA and its
members distinguished themselves by winning considerably more than they lost. A FELLOW
OFFICER, and a veteran of the early CCPA showdowns recalls of Flood,
"It's almost like he freed us from slavery." He taught
us to face our apprehensions and fears with grace," Flood's early
comrade says, "and he handled danger by laughing at it." IN PERSON, Flood
is an imposing figure. He carries a football lineman-size body on a 6-foot,
4-inch frame, and moves with an athletic grace. At age.; 50, he has a
silver-gray mane of hair' matched to piercing green eyes and a ready smile.
He exudes a warmth and a toughness that both friends and foes find disarming. Flood is a
family man who continually worked to develop strong desires in his children
to succeed both academically and professionally and to be loyal to their
friends. Flood is himself born of a police family, with deep roots on his
father's side, a 30-year detective in the New York Police Department. HE IS BRIGHT, well-read, articulate, quick thinking and, even today, the kind of nonconformist who is not afraid to bring new solutions to old problems.
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