Growing up in the tough Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago was no picnic for Riverside Police Officer Edwin Ruiz. As a youngster he even had a few minor run-ins with the police. Gangs were everywhere and it was hard to avoid them.
But he was more afraid of his mother, Maria, than the gang bangers who roamed his neighborhood, and she kept him on the straight and narrow path.
"I always wanted to become a police officer," said Ruiz who was named the Riverside Police Department officer of the year at a ceremony Saturday at Guthrie Park as his mother looked on proudly.
"The area I grew up is was rough. It was gang infested."
How did Ruiz stay away from the gangs?
"A lot of running," he recalls.
And, of course there was always the long arm of mom.
"I had this Mom. She was very dangerous. If she wouldn't have been as strict as she was I wouldn't have taken the road I have. There were no time outs back then. If you didn't listen you got whacked pretty hard," Ruiz said.
Ruiz, 40, credits his mother for making him the man he is today and it was hard for him to get through his acceptance speech Saturday without choking up as his mom looked on.
"It was hard for me to do the speech and look her way," said Ruiz.
After attending Wells High School, Ruiz got a job for a courier company where he worked for 14 years. He also worked as a security officer. But he still harbored his dream to become a police officer. Finally, in 2002, he got his chance when he was hired by the Triton College Police Department.
In February 2003 he was hired by the Riverside Police Department where he has found a happy home. He says that he can't imagine working anywhere else.
"I'm not going anywhere," said Ruiz. "I've got great fellow brothers as police officers. We're like a family."
Ruiz is part of the West Suburban Major Crimes Task Force (WESTAF), a homicide task force made up of officers from 19 west suburban police departments. Ruiz serves WESTAF as a forensic technologist.
In Riverside, he has put in many extra hours installing child safety seats for village residents, a field he has become certified in, and working with senior citizens.
"He is an outstanding officer and an outstanding individual," said Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel. "He's done a lot for the police department and for the village on his own time. Edwin is an extremely loyal individual to the police department and to the profession as a whole."
Ruiz serves as an officer in charge, supervising other officers on his shift.
He is perhaps most proud of his work in making the second arrest in the state under a law passed to make drunk driving without a valid drivers license or insurance a felony. The law was passed after former Riverside police officer Michael Gordon was killed in a 2004 collision with a drunk driver who lacked both.
The Michael Gordon law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2006 and Riverside made its first arrest under the new law on Jan. 8 of that year.
Until this year, Ruiz was the only Spanish-speaking police officer in Riverside police force. He believes he can serve as a role model. He says his youthful run-ins with the police and his youth in a crime-ridden neighborhood have helped him as a police officer.
"I think it was beneficial," said Ruiz. "That pushed me to do this particular job. It pushed me to help young Latino people get out of the ghetto."
