After 30 years of keeping NIU safe, Hunter retires

by Joe King

Lt. John Hunter's career with the NIU Police got off to a running start—literally. "It was my first day on the job with a field training officer," Hunter recalled, "and we got a call about an armed robbery at a store near campus. When the call came through, the suspect had just run past us. We ended up chasing him and catching him."

Lt. John Hunter

Not every day of the next 29 years was quite as exciting, but there were enough memorable moments that Hunter won't lack for things to ponder as he packs up his office and heads into retirement April 30.

He'll have memories like the summer night in the late 1970s when he found an abandoned newborn in a Wirtz Hall restroom.

"I was on foot patrol in the building at about 9 p.m. when I heard a baby crying. I didn't think much of it; I just figured someone was changing a diaper. But when I completed my walk through the building, 15 minutes later, the crying hadn't stopped," Hunter recalled. When he went to investigate, he found a two-day-old baby boy, cold and hungry, on the floor in a corner of the women's lounge.

"I took him over to the health center and by the time we got there he was asleep on my shoulder. He had grabbed hold of my shirt and wouldn't let go. That was a good night's work," Hunter said, adding that the boy was eventually adopted by a DeKalb County family.

Over the years, a few other cases stand out—some complex, like helping to crack a ring that was defrauding the state out of tens of thousands of dollars in grant money; some heroic, like rescuing a dog that had fallen through the ice on the lagoon; and some just strange, like solving the murder of William the Goose, an ill-tempered, but beloved, denizen of the East Lagoon who met his end at the hands of an inebriated student.

Such memories bring a smile to Hunter's face, but like any cop, there were plenty of nights when he might have wished he were in another line of work.

"I won't miss dealing with suicides," said Hunter, whose first call on his first solo shift was such a case. "And I won't miss delivering death messages to parents. They want answers that often you can't give them, answers nobody can give them. It's just hard to do."

In sum, it was quite a career, especially for someone for whom law enforcement was something of an afterthought. After attending NIU (and playing linebacker for the football team) in the late 1960s, Hunter had returned home to work on his father's DeKalb County farm. He enrolled in a law enforcement class at Kishwaukee College because it sounded interesting and was told that he had a knack for the job. Seeing an ad for officers at NIU, Hunter put in an application, was accepted and started on the job Jan. 2, 1973.

He spent four years as a patrolman, then switched to investigations and worked as a detective for several years. In 1991, he was promoted to sergeant and made a shift supervisor. He made lieutenant in 1996 and became the operations commander—the department's second in command—directing the day-to-day activities of the patrol division and overseeing late night ride services and the Huskie Patrol, among other duties.

Throughout all of that, said Sergeant Albert "Swede" Ekstrom, who has been at the department for 25 years, and who has known Hunter since the two attended grade school together, Hunter has been well-liked on the force and has always had a reputation as a doer, not a talker.

"He's the type of guy that if something needs to be done, he takes charge. He's not one to stay at his desk," Ekstrom said, noting that just weeks ahead of his retirement Hunter was still going out on calls and helping search for suspects if extra manpower was required.

"Twenty-nine years is a long time, especially in police work. But he has weathered the storms well and been an asset to the department," said NIU Chief of Police Don Grady. "We are really going to miss him, but he can leave feeling good about all that he has accomplished here."

Looking back on his career does provide a sense of satisfaction, Hunter said, but he is quick to add that he owes a debt of gratitude to each of the chiefs he worked for, every officer he ever worked alongside of and a host of people in various departments around campus. "There are so many people to thank that I wouldn't know where to begin. That's what I will miss about the job, all of the great people I have worked with over the years," he said.

Hunter is looking forward to a bit of relaxation in his retirement, having time to work in the yard and enjoying more of his favorite hobby, riding cutting horses in competition.