Longtime Palatine police chief who oversaw Brown's Chicken murder investigation dies

Former Palatine Police Chief Jerry Bratcher, who served for 25 years in that role until his retirement in 1999 and led the initial investigation into the 1993 murders at Brown's Chicken and Pasta, died Wednesday, police officials said.

Bratcher, 86, brought innovation to the Palatine Police Department and policing across the Northwest suburbs, such as by starting the first local crime prevention unit in Illinois, leading the creation of a multiagency major-crime task force and starting the first DARE program in Illinois.

In Palatine, he implemented the neighborhood-based policing approach, still one of the cornerstones of the police department, and was a driving force behind requiring a four-year college degree for new officers, Palatine Police Chief Dave Daigle said. "What was unique is how long (Jerry Bratcher) was the chief," Daigle said. "The average is about five years and he was here for 25 years. He hired basically our entire command staff. I know he touched a lot of lives."

Bratcher's son, Steve Bratcher, is a police commander in Palatine.

Palatine also was among the first law enforcement agencies in the country to get accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Bratcher was on the commission and was recognized for his work on police accreditation standards.

"He was a very progressive thinker and a visionary," Mundelein Police Chief Ray Rose told the Daily Herald in 1999. "Over the years, he pretty much became a mentor not only based on his experience, but on his tenure in the area."

A former U.S. Marine, Bratcher was very professional and almost "militaristic," Daigle said. "You knew he was the chief. It was a different era of policing, too."

Bratcher was in charge when seven people were murdered in 1993 at Brown's Chicken and Pasta in Palatine and retired when the case was still unsolved. Two years before his retirement, the Better Government Association released a report criticizing Palatine police work on the case, which police and village officials defended.

Two men were charged with the Brown's Chicken murders in 2002 after one of their girlfriends came forward after nine years of silence. Both were sentenced to life in prison without parole.