3rd District Police Station To Be Renamed After First Female CPD Officer To Die In Line Of Duty

CHICAGO—The 3rd District-Grand Crossing Chicago police station will be renamed to honor Dorelle Brandon, the first female officer to be killed in the line of duty in the history of the Chicago Police Department, Saturday, Sept. 12. The renaming ceremony will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the police station, 7040 S. Cottage Grove Ave.

Ofcr. Brandon served on the Chicago police force from 1978 to 1984, during an era when the role of police officers was predominantly male. She was 35 when she was shot and killed while working as an undercover narcotics detective.

On Jan. 15, 1984, Brandon, her partner and an informant were engaged in a controlled cocaine buy. Brandon and the informant accompanied the drug dealer through the rear entrance of an apartment building at 10742 S. Calumet Ave. The drug dealer pulled shut a set of burglar bars across the rear entrance and locked them.

When Brandon tried to arrest the drug dealer, the two struggled for the officer’s gun. Her partner tried to shoot the drug dealer between the bars. One of the shots tragically hit Brandon in the back of her head. The drug dealer, too, was wounded but survived. The gravely wounded officer was rushed to Roseland Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. It was later determined that Brandon had died from friendly fire.

Ofcr. Brandon’s family had a long legacy with the Chicago Police Department. Her stepfather retired as a detective. Her husband, Matt, is a retired CPD officer. Brandon's stepson and niece are both active members of the department.

Brandon was assigned to the 3rd District, where the community room was dedicated last year in the late officer’s memory. At the dedication, former CPD Supt. Larry Snelling praised Brandon’s resilience as a minority woman working in a male-dominated field.

“I remember my mother knew who she was, and she used to talk about her, how tough she was,” Snelling said. “You have to think about those times, and the resilience that anybody had to have for this job, but especially the women, and being a minority woman on top of that.”