History

Mr. Gerald S. Arenberg ​

02/15/1930--11/16/2000​

​"Thanks posthumous, Mr. Arenberg, for your vision, tenacity and efforts on behalf of the community”.

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Mr. Gerald S. Arenberg. Born in Chicago on Feb. 15, 1930, Mr. Arenberg, was Cook County, Ill. deputy for nine years before becoming the chief of police for the Village of Gold, Illinois, near Chicago. At that post he was the youngest police chief at that time in the greater-Chicago area.

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A veteran of the Korean War, Arenberg's lifelong quest to honor fallen officers began in 1955 when he was nearly killed directing traffic. He was struck by a vehicle driven by a drunken driver. Mr. Arenberg, saw a reason for his survival and months-long recovery, and decided to dedicate his life to remember officers across the country who had made the ultimate sacrifice.

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Gerald S. Arenberg. was the organizer of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. Gerald S. Arenberg, long a spokesman for police needs and policies nationwide, helped found the "American Federation of Police" in 1966, and in 1978 organized the National Assn. of Chiefs of Police. As its executive director, he campaigned for equipping every officer in the nation with an armored vest and organized an annual memorial for those killed on duty the previous years. He pushed for cities to make it easier for officers to live in the neighborhoods they policed. Gerald S. Arenberg opened the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum in 1960 in Port Charlotte in southwestern Florida as a memorial to officers killed in the line of duty. It was moved in 1990 to a former FBI building in Miami.

Mr. Arenberg, died Nov. 16, 2000 at the age of 70, after a two-year battle with cancer.

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Gerald S. Arenberg is the author of: "Make Your Home Safe"; "To Protect and Defend"; "American Police Chiefs", "Guidelines for line of duty deaths"; "Hostage"; "Preventing Missing Children" and "Sheriffs and Command Officers Manual and Directory".