OP_102016

opprairie.com News
the orland park prairie | October 20, 2016 | 9
Orland Park police officer
retires after serving 29 years
Brittany Kapa
Assistant Editor
At 2:45 p.m. Sept. 26,
Dan Drzymkowski pulled
up on his last day of work
to a long line of squad cars,
fire trucks and citizens celebrating
his 29-years of service
to Orland Park.
Two weeks later, in the
company of a 9-week-old
puppy, Drzymkowski reflected
on his last day of
service to the Village.
He said his final day of
work was filled with feelings
of respect and love
from not only coworkers
and his family but also from
the community, as well.
When he describes what
it was like serving the village
for so long, most in his
situation could have said
“exhausting,” “stressful”
or a myriad of other adjectives.
Drzymkowski chose
“rewarding.”
“[On] 365 days you run
into people having their
worst day, whether it’s because
they got into a fight,
lost their job or what have
you,” Drzymkowski said.
“One day, I got to help an
elderly lady who was almost
scammed. … It felt
good to deter that.”
Drzymkowski retired
from the department’s K-9
unit, where he had worked
for some of his 29 years
of service with his partner,
Brutus, a German shepherd,
who died a few years after
his retirement. Drzymkowski
said he always felt that
his time in the K-9 unit was
the most rewarding part of
his career and in retrospect
could not believe that the
department was paying him
to do work that he loved.
Cmdr. John Keating has
been a career-long friend
“He served the Village honorably,
and now it’s time for him to enjoy
his retirement.”
John Keating — Orland Park Police commander,
on retired officer Dan Drzymkowski
of Drzymkowski. They met
while at the Chicago Police
Education and Training
Academy on July 6, 1987.
Referring to his buddy,
“Danny D,” Keating talked
about the passion, compassion
and easy demeanor
Drzymkowski had while on
the job.
“[Drzymkowski] and I
talked about his career at
his retirement,” Keating
said. “We have a lot of good
memories and stories, but
unfortunately a lot of the
time when we got called it’s
when someone is in crisis.
Danny has such a calming
demeanor with victims and
with suspects alike.”
This calming demeanor
— and trust of his partner
Brutus — came into play
during a warrant search of
a suspect’s home. Keating
said Drzymkowski and his
dog Brutus searched of the
premises, with Brutus indicating
toward a dresser.
During the primary
search of the dresser, nothing
was found, but again
Brutus indicated toward the
same dresser. Drzymkowski
stood by his dog and insisted
on another look. After
taking all of the drawers out
and looking in everything,
they finally turned the entire
dresser over to find a TEC-
9 semi-automatic handgun
taped under the dresser.
It was that type of dedication
and Drzymkowski’s
trust in his dog that made
Keating realize that for
Drzymkowski, the K-9 unit
was his true passion.
Despite feeling like an
empty nester as of late,
Drzymkowski and his family
are planning on staying in
the Orland Park area postretirement.
With his children
grown and working —
and his wife working at Bed
Bath & Beyond — it is his
new puppy Jax that keeps
him company during the
day. But he also has plans to
travel and knock some tasks
off of his bucket list.
“My buddy went on a big
trip,” Drzymkowski said.
“He went white-water rafting
in Colorado. I got jealous
hearing about his trip,
and I thought, ‘I need to do
that.’”
While travel is on his
list in the future, lately he
has been spending his time
training Jax — which he
said is a full time job in itself
— and frequents the
gym.
While Keating said the
police department will feel
the loss of an officer who
served the Village for a long
time, at the end of the day
they are happy he is enjoying
his time.
“I’m happy for him,” Keating
said. “He served the
Village honorably, and now
it’s time for him to enjoy his
retirement.”
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