Peter Bella, Chicago police officer turned street photographer, dies at 72

Former Chicago police officer Peter Bella saw things through a camera lens that others did not.

After years of patrolling the North and West Sides, Mr. Bella became a police forensics photographer, taking pictures of bloody crime scenes.

After retiring from the police force in 2007, after nearly 30 years on the job, he focused on street photography, capturing images of everything from ice cream trucks to candids of the late Joseph "Walking Man" Kromelis, the striking, enigmatic and mustachioed man who simply strolled the city for years.

He held one gallery show in 2023 at the late artist Tony Fitzpatrick's space The Dime on Western Avenue. The two men were pals.

During the pandemic Mr. Bella started a blog and wrote about whatever crossed his mind, from hotdog toppings to politics, in tones ranging from exuberant to curmudgeonly.

He wrote that being a Chicago cop was "the best job in the world" in a post from April 2024.

But he also wrote: "Being a Chicago police officer is an all-access pass to all the things you never wanted to see, feel, or experience. I saw and witnessed some horrible things that humans do to one another. Every time you think you saw the worst, human nature says hold my beer . . .Some say we did God’s work. That is a lie. We did the work God did not want to do. Were we necessary? You are damn right."

A few months later, in July 2024, he wrote: "Life is short, no matter how long you keep breathing. Live, love, laugh, and eat the damn sandwich."

Mr. Bella died Dec. 27 from esophageal cancer. He was 72.

Mr. Bella lived in Lincoln Square and loved sitting by the fountain, people watching and chatting with strangers in Giddings Plaza.

He read a ton, finished a crossword every day and enjoyed watching Jeopardy with other regulars at his favorite pub.

Mr. Bella enjoyed staying on the move. He attended Kendall College, the culinary training school, after he retired from the police department. And he became a docent at the Driehaus Museum.

"Before work he'd stand outside the museum and see people and drink coffee and chat," said his daughter, Cordelia Bella.

"He was the type of person who'd be driving down the street and, if there was something interesting, he'd go look at it. He was really engaged with the world around him," she said.

Mr. Bella told the Sun-Times in 2023, ahead of his gallery exhibit: "I spent years in the front seat of a car driving in square circles around places like Little Village and Pilsen, but you don't see anything until you get out and walk."

Mr. Bella was born in Chicago Jan. 10, 1953, to Vincent and Angeline Bella — a butcher and a secretary.

He grew up near Midway Airport, attended Brother Rice High School and studied at Roosevelt University and University of Illinois Chicago, where he became interested in photography.

He worked as an investigator for the Cook County medical examiner's office before becoming a cop.

"He was a very deadpan, good-looking man," said his wife, Mary Louise Hamilton. "Not the kind of guy you'd see walking down the street with a grin on his face, but if you asked him to do something he'd do it."

Over the years, his wife and daughter occasionally got him to leave town to go on vacation, but he was content in Chicago.

"If it was up to him, he never would have left the city, he'd have been poking around looking at gravestones or old buildings — he just thought the whole world was here," his wife said.

Mr. Bella was a longtime regular at a Catholic Mass held on Sundays for police officers at the Mercy Home for Boys & Girls on Jackson Boulevard, recalled retired Chicago Police Chaplain Fr. Tom Nangle.

"He was so damn curious about life," Nangle said. "He was a most unusual man. He knew the street and the good, the bad and the ugly. But the flip side, he knew the fine things in life, too, like food, art, books, the warmth of a family — the guy really was a lifelong learner."

Services have been held.