By Deirdre Guthrie
The Gutkoskas sell lots of cards and T-shirts with grim reaper logos. One shirt says, “Danger’s No Stranger to an Englewood Ranger.” Others say “Feel Safe Tonight: Sleep With a Cop” and “Dial 911 and Make a Cop Cum.” A powder blue shirt intended to appeal to female cops reads, “I’ve got a badge, a gun, and PMS…Any questions?” It hasn’t been a big seller. “We should have more designs for women,” Pat concedes.
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Then he discovered a cop passion for swapping trinkets such as engraved glassware, lighters, pins, statues, ornaments, fishing lures, leather goods, and model squad cars. He and Dee attended swap meets and saw that the most popular items were from the New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles police departments. Pat points to a discontinued “Road Champs” model police car that last year sold for $5; this year it’s $55–$800 for that year’s full set of cars.
“I still don’t like to go downtown a lot,” he says, since he has visions of snipers perched atop skyscrapers.
Now a cop groupie of sorts, he often listens to a police scanner in his back office. He remembers a frantic woman who’d locked her keys and baby in her car at 47th and Cicero and was helped by an off-duty officer. “These are the little things the public forgets,” Pat says. “These guys are proud of what they do but can’t show it anymore for fear of being branded a macho cop.” He tosses a card on the counter that reads “Truth, Justice, and the American Way: CRIME FIGHTER.” Below that is written “Life Saving, Marriage Counseling, Damsels in Distress Our Specialty, Open All Night, Bad Guys Caught.”
