First in a series. 

Police officer Jim Raetz’s animated navy blue eyes ignite with the rush and ferocity of a sudden hillside brush fire when he identifies what he will miss most when Retirement Day dawns in 5½ months:

“Chasing bad guys

“Leaping fences.

“Chasing down bad guys at 85 miles an hour.”

Hardly any attorneys do that.

The irrepressible Mr. Raetz guarantees, though, that when he becomes a fulltime lawyer on his 50th birthday, there is not a speck of a chance his lifestyle will be any less passionate.

Trim and youthful, he presents as fit as the 1984 day he entered the law enforcement world of legendary Chief Ted Cooke, starting on Page 1 of a career that, for awhile, did not look as if it would survive into double figures.

The speculatively silver strands that frame his still boyish face are the only giveaway that he is a day older than he was 31 years ago when he joined the Culver City Police Dept.

For the two decades, since he started dividing his professional life between the practice of law and passionate enforcement of the law, Mr. Raetz has spread himself thinner than a chintzy restaurant that encourages diners to feed their imaginations.

Inhale and exhale before continuing a profile of the oil and gas industry’s favorite pal.

As an attorney who specializes in divorce and family law, here is Mr. Raetz’s life:

“I have an office in Pasadena, and my other satellite office is at Howard Hughes, across from Dinah’s restaurant, right outside the city.”

Mr. Raetz, his wife and their two school-age daughters live in Irvine.

Three days a week, 12 hours a shift, he is a police officer on Duquesne. Thursdays and Fridays, he suits up as an attorney, bouncing among not only his two offices, but courtrooms at the Airport Court and at 111 N. Hill St., downtown Los Angeles.

Mr. Raetz and his car became intimate pals years’ ago.

(To be continued)