Former Sterling police chief dies at 73

STERLING – Cadet Thorp, who served as the Sterling police chief for 22 years, died Dec. 4. He was 73.

He was a very private man, said his wife of 50 years, Carman Thorp.

Thorp, who moved to Sterling in 1958 from the Illinois farming town of Flanagan, worked in gas stations and had a milk route on which he hauled canned milk from farmers to several area dairies before he joined the U.S. Air Force and became an aircraft mechanic.

“It was a very good learning experience for me,” Thorp said in a March 1990 interview with the Gazette. “It taught me responsibility and discipline. Law enforcement is paramilitary. You follow orders, and there are procedures to go by, and there’s a ranking structure.”

On June 7, 1966, he was hired by the Sterling Police Department. A little more then 6 years later, he was promoted to sergeant.

That’s when now-Sterling Police Chief Ron Potthoff first met him.

“He was the sergeant I was assigned to,” Potthoff said. “He was a big guy. Strong guy. Strong-willed guy. He was honest, and he was a worker ... He was one of the guys to push to get the job done. A lot of integrity. And we had a lot of fun.”

Potthoff remembered one especially intense moment from their time working together, during an event he called “The Sinissippi Park Riot.”

During the summer of 1974, Potthoff explained, kids used to hang out in Sinnissippi Park, drinking wine and smoking marijuana, and sitting along the road. Since the park was out of police jurisdiction, nothing was ever done. But then on June 1, 1974, a footchase at the mall ended in chaos after a call for backup landed a group of Sterling police officers in the middle of the park.

Four squad cars, Potthoff said, with Sgt. Thorp in one of them, were quickly surrounded by the intoxicated and increasingly violent group of people.

And then there was Thorp’s voice, calling out directions confidently, getting the officers out of there and keeping the peace.

But Potthoff’s car wouldn’t start. As the newest addition to the force, he had the oldest car. And when the others started to drive away, sirens on, the crowd noticed that Potthoff wasn’t moving.

“They started coming at me,” Potthoff said. “They’re throwing vodka bottles and [Thorp] just keeps saying ‘Get of there.’

“He kept calm under pressure among probably 50 drunk and high people, and gave direction, and we all got out of there.”

Thorp was commended in a June 5, 1974, letter by then-Chief James McKenna.

“Sgt. Thorp,” wrote McKenna, “I would like to submit my personal commendation for your part in the incident at Sinnissippi Park on the evening of Saturday, June 1, 1974.

“Your conduct and bravery under extreme situations was exemplary. While being insulted and assaulted you managed to keep your wits and handled the situation without the use of firearms.

“Your dedication to duty has been noted and again, congratulations on a job well done.”

Five months later, on Nov. 17, 1974, Thorp was appointed to chief, but as he told the Gazette, he always considered himself “a street cop at heart.”

His hard-working demeanor extended beyond the realm of police work. He received an associate’s degree from Sauk Valley Community College in 1973, the same year he was promoted to sergeant, and in 1975, the year after he was appointed police chief, he graduated from the 100th session of the FBI National Academy.

A year later, he received a bachelor’s degree from Bradley University.

Whiteside County Sheriff Kelly Wilhelmi said Thorp was known as an innovator.

“It’s kind of funny,” Wilhelmi said. “When you’re a young guy, especially back then, the chief, sheriff, captain of the state police, they’re like rock stars.

“I really didn’t know [Thorp] very well, but I know he was a great man. Progressive and proactive. He was one who definitely used his position to get things done, and that’s the mark of a good chief.”

Thorp also served on the Whiteside County Board, and organized Whiteside’s DARE program and Crime Stoppers.

He retired as chief on June 30, 1996, after 30 years with the department.

“Once I got into it, I fell in love with it,” he said during that same March 1990 interview with the Gazette. “This is for me.”