From brats-land to beach front, top cop's a lady
By Carrie Trousil

Kim Tierney-Richow was waiting tables at Amber's Restaurant in Milwaukee when she was recruited for the city's police force.  At the time, she was a nursing student just trying to get by.  After she took the application test and was placed fourth on the list to hire, she traded in her stethoscope for a billy club. Becoming a police cadet, she began her career on May 23, 1977. Little did she know that her decision would take her from the Milwaukee vice squad to the intensity of Florida's police scene -- as well as through love and lottery tickets.

Currently, Tierney-Richow is one of the nation's few female chiefs of police, of which there are about 150. She is also winner of a six-way split, $23 million jackpot.

The Milwaukee native currently heads the police department in Lighthouse Point , on Florida's beautiful east coast Hillsboro Inlet. "I'm one of those 'you've come a long way baby' stories," she quipped.

But the road hasn't always been so smooth. "At first, they wouldn't even let me drive (a squad)," Tierney-Richow remarked, recalling that she began her career when "women police officers were more of a novelty." Tierney-Richow had to cut her hair to regulation men's length, wear men's clothing and go without women's facilities in the station houses. Yet Tierney-Richow recalled, "I almost enjoyed it, being rebellious at the time. But to be fair, everyone was very tolerant of us few women." 

Tierney-Richow couldn't claim that her Irish blood was the carrier of her professional drive,  although she came from some upstanding citizens of the Milwaukee Irish community, descendants of the Tierney and Caplice families of Co. Tipperary. Her father, Dick Tierney, was Milwaukee's Irishman of the Year for 1997 and serves on the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center board of directors. He is  also chairperson for ICHC arts and entertainment committee.

Her police gene, instead, comes from grandfather Arthur Kamman, a Milwaukee motorcycle cop. "Also, the fact that I was a naive 21-year-old with a 5' 10"  frame helped," explained Tierney-Richow of her career beginnings.  She was at the Silver Spring station, Precinct 4, for 5 1/2 years before packing it up for Florida and retained fond memories of that time. 

"Everyone always wants to hear about when I did the "hooker patrol" she smiled. "I would have to dress up and stand on the corner of 27th and Kilbourn, waiting around to arrest johns. But it really wasn't my cup of tea." Tierney-Richow added that she wasn't ever afraid, just offended when one downtrodden man offered her only $3.50.

Tierney-Richow left Wisconsin for Florida in 1982, where she found a position in Lighthouse Point. That's also when she met her late husband Tom Richow. "We met onmy first day of work and were married in 1984," she recalled. "He was my detective sergeant." 

On the job, the couple acted as if they didn't even know each other. "We were very professional," Tierney-Richow insisted. They must have been, because they remained steady co-workers, lovers and friends until he succumbed to cancer in 1999.  Of that painful experience, she only said, "It was really hard. He was diagnosed and then died only four months later."

There is a bittersweet twist, though. A few months later, Richow's best friend Alan Nestor, also a member of the police force, convinced Tierney-Richow to partake in a group lottery ticket purchase. "He asked, 'You want in?'  I decided at the last minute, 'What the heck.' Something just urged me to do it," Tierney-Richow reminisced. She gave Nestor $2, and although they didn't win that first try, their luck changed. "Six months to the day after my husband died, the six of us altogether won a $23 million jackpot," Tierney-Richow stated, "It was a miracle. I really feel like Tom made it happen."

With her winnings Tierney-Richow paid off her inevitable bills and treated her entire family to a trip across the ocean. She said, "I was going to take everyone to Ireland, but Dad has been there so many times, we decided to go to Scotland." Tierney-Richow and her 'super' traveling companion sister are instead going to visit Ireland some time this year.

Although it was a great feeling to regain some financial stability with her winnings, Tierney-Richow certainly didn't stop working. "We're all back on a budget," Tierney-Richow said of herself and her co-workers, "Plus, I couldn't bear to quit until I get this department where I want it to be."

Lighthouse Point lies 10 minutes north of Fort Lauderdale, which means Tierney-Richow's department presided over a "safe, but interesting" community. "Over 50% of the houses here are worth $1 million or more," Richow claimed. "This is very sought-over property in South Florida." Which means that security and burglary issues are of top priority, but that the day is never dull.  "We still get the million-dollar drug boats and cargoes of illegal immigrants," she offered matter-of-factly, "It has its challenges."

Fortunately, Tierney-Richow, despite the excitement, has at age 45 found time to slow down -- a little. Her schedule isn't as demanding as it once was, leaving her time to spend with daughter Ashley, who is 9.

"She wants to be a policewoman. Ashley says, 'I love your job!'  But I want more for her. The work been good to me, but the hours weren't," Tierney-Richow added. She spent many nights working midnight to 7 a.m. shifts, as well as holidays and weekends.

Despite  those challenges, Tierney-Richow maintained a positive attitude and indicated that the officers with whom she shared her formative police years were just 'traditional" in their attitudes.  "The whole profession has changed so much,"  she added positively. 

"Yes, police work definitely been good to me, even from the beginning," she concluded.