Ozzie Valdez is a retired Chicago Police Department Lieutenant / Commanding Officer within their Homicide Unit. He began his career in 1992 and served as a patrol officer and narcotic investigator until his promotion to Sergeant in 2000. Ozzie served as the Patrol Division’s Sergeant until 2001 when he was reassigned to the Organized Crime Division until his promotion to Lieutenant in 2008. As a Sergeant, he was a Task Force Officer / Supervisor with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), deputized as Task Force Officer. As a Lieutenant, he was assigned to the Deployment Operations Center (DOC), where he initiated the use of geographic information system (GIS) mapping combined with police data to analyze crime and identify priority targets and gang conflicts. In 2012, Ozzie was assigned to the Bureau of Detectives, where he served as the Commanding Officer in charge of Robbery, Burglary, and Theft investigations (RBT) and then to the Violent Crimes Section. His responsibilities involved supervising and directing investigations of violent crimes and police-involved shootings. Ozzie was also responsible for overseeing the Special Victims Unit, which included crimes against children and women. He retired as the Commanding Officer of the Area One Homicide Unit.

Ozzie has been involved in training and education as an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice at Roosevelt University (Chicago) in the past and currently as an instructor for the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). The NCSC participates in training and consulting in the field of Criminal Justice in various countries worldwide. He presented different approaches to investigating human trafficking to Jamaican law enforcement officials and prosecutors in Kingston, Jamaica. As a consultant, he traveled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to assess prosecutorial and investigative practices and criminal analysis. In January 2020, he instructed Trinidad and Tobago investigators and prosecutors on using social media in Criminal Investigations. Most recently, in December 2020, he participated with the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) in conducting a virtual training program for prosecutors and law enforcement officers in the Eastern Caribbean and Guyana. Seven countries participated in the training, including Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Lucia. Currently, Ozzie works for the Illinois Liquor Control Commission as Supervisor in the Enforcement Division.

Ozzie Valdez is a graduate of the Force Science Certification and the Advanced Force Science Specialist Courses.