Roll of Honor
John Robert Judge
Incident
Chief of Police John Judge was accidentally shot and killed when his service revolver discharged and struck him in his left leg.
He had just arrived at his home at 208 Grant Road and was exiting his patrol car when the gun discharged. The round severed his artery, causing him to bleed to death. Chief Judge was known to keep the revolver half-cocked while carrying it in his belt.
Chief Judge had served with the Marquette Heights Police Department for eight years and had previously served with the St. Louis Police Department for 14 years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife, two sons, three daughters, and six grandchildren.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-IL-525BBB59- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
22 years. You could have gone home.
Chief of Police Judge gave the Marquette Heights Police Department 22 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Marquette Heights community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Judge.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police John Robert Judge is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In IL, 354 of 1,318 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 26.9% of this state's fallen. That is 4.1 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. John Robert Judge's cause is highlighted.
How John Robert Judge Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. John Robert Judge is highlighted in Sep.