Page 38 - March 2018 FOP Newsletter

Commander Bauer
Honoring
POLICE STORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37
night,” Devereaux expounded.
Bauer made other lasting impressions
as well. George Kuzmanovski used to be assigned to traffic duty in the Loop and worked many details with Bauer when he was in the Mounted Unit. He noticed one attribute in Bauer that made him stand out as an officer and a leader.
“You know he was a cop’s cop and ev- erybody liked him around here,” said Kuzmanovski, who has 19 years on the job and is now assigned to O’Hare. “And that smile. Whenever you saw him, he al- ways had that smile.”
Perhaps the greatest testament to a fel- low officer comes from one who doesn’t know you. Standing outside the church waiting for the service to begin, Officer Sargon Talia worked the funeral detail.
Talia is five years into the job and start- ed as an FTO the Monday after the funeral in 020. He never met Bauer, but the com- mander apparently still made a lifetime impact on Talia.
“He served 31 years for the City of Chi- cago and he worked until his final day,” Talia shared. “It’s definitely inspirational. He is truly a hero.”

The legacy of any tried-and-blue Chi- cago Police Officer is knowing that no job with the Department will ever out- rank being husband and father. What will be missed most is Paul taking Grace to school every morning. The saddest aspect of the tragedy is that on the night of the visitation, Paul and Erin would have been celebrating their 16th wedding anniver- sary.
Paul got his strength from where The Police gets its strength. Erin showed that remarkable strength when, as the super- intendent said, she propped up the entire Department for so many days following Paul’s passing.
“You have shown the country what it is to be Chicago strong,” Johnson told Erin at the funeral service.
As they stood on line for the visitation and in the cold listening to the funer- al service, all officers in the Department and members of Lodge 7 offered a similar message for Erin and Grace. The City of big shoulders will always have a shoulder for Erin and Grace to cry on, to lean on and to ride on, and that will come from thousands of The Police who will forever
be their family.
“It is a big family, and we strive to be
better every day,” President Graham con- firmed. “And we show it for our brothers and sisters who fall in the line of duty that they will never be forgotten.”
The Lodge 7 President then comment- ed about a legacy that would truly be wor- thy of Paul Bauer, that would make a last- ing impact on The Police.
“I am gratified to know that there were so many people who are supporting The Police,” he recognized. “And if they could continue to support The Police, I think we can keep the City safer than it already is.”
Keeping the City safer, serving in every way imaginable is what Paul Bauer did to the very end. And it’s what made him The Police. d
38 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2018