Terry Hillard popular with cops, past mayors
March 1, 2011 8:46PM
Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM
If Jody Weis was an outsider, Terry Hillard is the consummate insider.
Hillard, 67, was superintendent from 1998 to 2003 and was popular with the rank-and-file because of his background as a street cop. He was wounded in the line of duty in 1975 and was honored for valor under fire. Hillard also worked as a bodyguard for Mayors Jane Byrne and Harold Washington before becoming the department’s first African-American chief of detectives.
Hillard, with his calm demeanor, guided the department through several high-profile scandals including the shootings of unarmed motorists LaTanya Haggerty and Robert Russ and the botched Ryan Harris investigation, in which two boys were wrongfully charged in the murder of a young girl.
After retiring, Hillard started a strategic security advisory firm that has consulted clients nationwide. The firm, Hillard Heintze, was hired by Metra after the scandal that culminated in the suicide of Metra executive director Phil Pagano.
— Frank Main and Fran Spielman
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