The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
February 25, 2008 Monday

Hagopian rose through police ranks: Shot in 1967 riots, he later led
detectives

Meg Kissinger and Amy Rabideau Silvers, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Feb. 25–For years, Kenneth J. Hagopian hung a photo in his office at
the Milwaukee Police Department.

It showed his face just after he was struck by a blast from a
shotgun. Then a Milwaukee police captain, Hagopian was shot in 1967
during the riots in the central city.

"I was unconscious for almost two weeks," Hagopian later told William
Janz, Milwaukee Sentinel columnist. "I couldn’t walk. Blood clots in
the lung, had to have emergency surgery. The doctor kept saying,
‘You’re lucky to be alive.’ One-hundred-twenty-six pieces of lead in
the face, neck and shoulder."

And so the photo hung until Hagopian retired in 1987 as the
department’s inspector of detectives. It meant that officers should
be careful out there.

Beneath the photo were the words of another message: "I came back."

"He loved police work," said Mary Hagopian, his wife of nearly 35
years.

Kenneth Hagopian died of pneumonia on Feb. 18 at a hospital near his
winter home in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 81.

He grew up in Cudahy, graduating from Cudahy High School, where he
was captain of the football team. His mother’s family was from
Poland; his father was from Armenia. Kenneth Hagopian served in the
Army Air Forces during the final months of World War II.

In 1951, Hagopian joined the Police Department, then one of only two
officers who had a college degree. He had graduated from the
University of Wisconsin in Madison with a degree in sociology.

Hagopian learned one unexpected lesson as a young officer. Confronted
with a huge armed suspect — 6-foot-10 as the story goes — he was
nearly strangled with his own necktie. Hagopian managed to knock a
gun from the suspect’s hand and then began to chase him.

"I’m thinking I’m going to shoot the s.o.b., but I can’t," Hagopian
recalled. "He’s unarmed."

He did, however, give up knotted ties for clip-ons.

No. 4 ranking officer

He later served a stint on what was then called the safe-cracking
squad and ultimately became the department’s fourth-highest ranking
officer as head of the detective bureau, later renamed the criminal
investigation unit.

"Hagopian was probably in the vanguard of the new police officer,"
said Victor Manian, a retired Milwaukee County Circuit chief judge
who was earlier a police officer and one of Hagopian’s partners. He
made the remark when Hagopian retired in 1987.

"He has demonstrated over the years the classic police personality,"
Manian then said. "He is a classic mixture of intelligence,
compassion and courage. Historically, that’s what the Milwaukee
Police Department is known for."

Hagopian later talked about the shooting, but realized that the
events were not just about him.

It happened as Hagopian responded to a report of a shooting. He got
out of the unmarked squad car with a pen and note cards in his hand.
Then he saw a man with a shotgun.

"I yell, ‘Hey, mister, I’m a police officer,’ " Hagopian told Janz.
"Boom. That was it. He hit me and then he hit the car. Knocked us
down, one by one.

"One officer was killed, didn’t find his body until the next day
after a fire in the house," he said. "Other officers were shot. John
Carter was blinded."

Nor did the shooting change the man that Hagopian was.

Praise for Hagopian

"He was able to put his shooting in perspective," Manian said in
1987. "He was close to death for a long time. But he came back with
the same extraordinary balance of judgment that he had before.

"Some people were going to organize some real support for him to be
chief, but he asked people not to do that," he said. That was
discussed as Chief Harold A. Breier retired in 1984.

"His idea of the best job in the Police Department was chief of
detectives," Manian said. "He didn’t like the politics in the chief’s
office. He wanted to be a crime buster."

After retirement, Hagopian set up a private investigation firm doing
background checks for employers.

"The only thing I’m going to miss is the guys," Hagopian said. "I
used to hate to be off on Friday and Saturday because I might miss
something, but now that feeling’s gone."

Hagopian loved vegetable gardening, Mary Hagopian said.

"He used to tell me, ‘You can’t eat flowers,’ " she said.

He also enjoyed bike riding and rode a three-wheeler the week before
he died.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters from his
first marriage; Katherine (Bruce) Binder, Diane (John) Reid and
Marjorie Bessette; and two grandsons, Michael Reid and Jacob
Bessette.

A private service will be held later.