Fred Rice Jr.

On August 27, 1983, Rice was appointed Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department by Harold Washington, first black mayor of Chicago, who had only been sworn-in as mayor months earlier.[2][5][7] The department was overwhelming white.[2] Rice was the first black person to serve as permanent head of the Chicago Police Department (before him, Samuel Nolan had served a few weeks as interim superintendent in 1979).[3]

Washington sought to see the department reformed, including ending the de facto racial segregation within the force.[2] Rice's efforts to implement integration within the police patrols was met with resistance from rank-and-file officers, who protested by slowing down ticket-writing.[2] With the backing of the mayor, Rice stood up to this resistance.[2]

Rice was named in a number of lawsuits where former ranking white officers alleged discrimination, arguing that they had been demoted because they were white and had politically opposed Harold Washington.[3] However, Rice, was cleared in courts of any wrongdoing.[3]

Rice's tenure saw a decrease in the departments use of firearms, and a decrease in the number of disorderly conduct arrests, which had been considered a cause of tension between the police and the populations of minority neighborhoods.[2]

Rice was a founding member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.[3][4]

Rice retired as superintendent effective November 1, 1987.[5][7] This was the end of his 32 year career as a police officer.[7]

In 2001, Rice was diagnosed with lung cancer.[8] After an almost ten-year long battle with the cancer, Rice died January 10, 2011 at ManorCare Health Services in Palos Heights, Illinois.[3][4][5][8]

Rice was buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.[5]