A friend and a truly great lawman has passed. Our mutual friend Jeff Chudwin informs us that Al Kulovitz died peacefully after a long illness.
Al began his career as an evidence technician with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office headquartered in Chicago. As you might imagine from the location, he worked a great many homicides. He advanced into street police work and the SWAT team. A masterful competitive shooter, he was a lifelong teacher of officer survival principles. If you’ve ever read the first edition of the classic police safety textbook “Street Survival,” Al took the picture therein of the druggie who shot it out with the cops and took 33 9mm bullets before he went down. (Backstory: the guy also took two 12-gauge rifled slugs. The second, which put him down by severing his spine, followed one that went through a lung and left the exit wound in the chest that looked awfully big for a 9mm wound.)
Jeff knew Big Al longer and better than I did, and shares the following: Al was Team Commander for the Cook County Sheriffs Police Dept. prior to his retirement. He served many years as an evidence tech. working numerous infamous cases. One of those was recovering the bodies from Gacy’s sub-basement in 1980.
Al was a great shooter and competitor and was a many time winner at the great Second Chance bowling pin match put on by soft body armor inventor Richard Davis.
Al was a life-long instructor – teacher and was an encyclopedia of knowledge.
He was my friend and Brother of 50 years, as of this year. We traveled everywhere and Al was always leading the way. Al was a founding member of the Illinois Tactical Officers Association in 1988 and served as Vice President and as a Board Members for over 25 years.
Above all, Al was a loving and devoted husband to Lydia and a loving father to his daughters Nicole and Michelle.
Al will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.
Amen. Condolences to his loved ones and all those in harm’s way whom Al Kulovitz mentored. May this long-time peace officer rest in peace himself.