CHICAGO — Thirteen members of Chicago Police Sgt. Benny Martinez's family have served or are currently serving in the police or fire department. Yet none of them have been promoted past sergeant.
Martinez wants to change that and hopes his future could even possibly put him atop the city's police force some day.
"I grew up kind of in a police atmosphere," Martinez said. "Little by little myself and other family members started becoming policemen and firemen, and the next thing you know we ballooned to 12 or 15 of us.”
Martinez, who has been on the force for 24 years, recently graduated from the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety School of Police Staff and Command.
Of the 250 CPD members who applied this year, only two were chosen, Martinez and fellow Sgt. Yolanda Talley.
Martinez was recognized by his 40 peers in the program from around the country who voted for him to receive the top award for his dedication, leadership, scholarship and ethics during the program.
The 46-year-old who works on CPD's Major Accidents Unit has been a sergeant for 16 years and hopes this new training and award will propel him further up the ladder.
"I'm hoping to continue on and hopefully give some pride to my family," Martinez said.
His father, Ben Martinez, retired as a sergeant in 2003 after 33 years with the police department.
A few of Martinez's cousins are currently sergeants and a number of their kids are patrolmen.
"It's been more than a job for us because it's been such an honor and something that we've learned since we were growing up," Martinez said.
Martinez's son, who just finished his freshman year at the University of Michigan, took the CPD entrance exam in April. He is still undecided on his future, according to his dad.
Phil Cline, Chicago's former police superintendent until 2007 who gave a graduation speech for the Northwestern program, knows about Chicago public service families.
"It's a family job. My son's on the job. My father was a fireman in Chicago for 36 years," Cline said. "I think a lot of public service families are like that."
Cline served the department for 37 years. He told his son he has to do 38.
"There's a lot of guys I worked with who later on, their kids were in units and it was funny seeing these little kids maybe coming by the station and here they are in uniform," Cline said. "It's a great legacy for the family when another one of the kids or grandkids follow."
Cline, who now serves as Executive Director of the Chicago Police Department Memorial Foundation, said he was proud of Martinez.
"Benny has a good reputation and he's a good cop," Cline said. "We are glad to see he's a supervisor now and hopefully he will be a command member in the future."
Participating in the leadership training class at Northwestern was an honor for Martinez, who lives in Jefferson Park.
"By getting a lot of this knowledge, I think the sky is the limit for a lot of us," he said.
Martinez has worked in four districts over his career before joining the Major Accidents division: Rogers Park, Austin, Shakespeare and Grand Central.
The Northwestern-based program that Martinez participated in this spring is geared toward mid-level supervisors to take them to the next level or become chiefs someday, according to Shelly Camden, Deputy Director of the School of Police Staff and Command.
The program has been in existence since 1936 and in its current form as a 10-week class since 1983.
"We hope that they learn to run a police agency," Camden said. "Some of its managerial and some of its leadership. We don't want to make them better sergeants and lieutenants. We want to make them better deputy chiefs and chiefs."
The program has trained police from all 50 states and about 30 different countries.
The Franklin M. Kreml Leadership Award, which Martinez received, is the top honor given to a student of each program as voted by his or her peers.
"Benny was an outstanding student," Camden said. "He did a great job. He absolutely deserved the Kreml Award."
As part of the program the officers chose two charities to raise money for during their time together, the Humboldt Park-based La Casa Norte, which serves youth and families confronting homelessness, and for Park Forest Police Officer Timothy Jones, who was shot in the head while on duty in March.
The group raised $6,000 for La Casa Norte and just under $6,000 for Jones.
"A lot of people have this feeling when they graduated from that class that not only are you re-energized, but you feel like you have a different view of things than you had prior to what you went into it," Martinez said. "It is hard to explain but the leadership skills that you learn and the people you meet, it’s a priceless thing.”
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