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“He wasn’t afraid to do his job.”
“Did the things he had to do to make the Department a better De- partment.”
“Best partner you could have.”
“He respected everybody on the street.”
“He came in to do his job every day.”
“He loved to help people solve their problems.”
“Gung-ho to bring peace to the community.”
“He was the guy you wanted to show up if your family was ever in need of help.”
“He followed his North Star of service.”
“Somebody other young folks in the City can look up to as a role model.”
All these superlatives about Conrad Gary being the consummate police officer flowed from those who worked with him in the 5th District, those who went through the academy with him, those who rode in a beat car with him and those who never met him but were nonetheless awestruck by his presence. And they applied.
All the superlatives hinted that if there was a blueprint, a mold, a description for the consummate copper, he would be it. Go to the dictionary, look up Chicago Police Officer, and Conrad Gary would be there, front and center in the group photo.
“He showed promise of strides and greatness. During the month of training with me, he showed his want to make the City a better place,” extolled Jeffrey Curia, an 005 officer who was Gary’s second FTO in the district. “It was just his demeanor, how he followed in- structions when given and how he wanted to be the police. He was squared away from day one.”
Squared away would have been the highest praise for Conrad, who came to the Department after serving five years in the U.S. Air Force. The 31-year-old husband to the cherished Kelly and father to 6-month-old baby girl Tess had wanted, as Father Dan Brandt eulogized, “to be the police from the time he was a little boy playing with his Legos.”
“I always used to joke around with him that he was my integrity check,” confided Samanthia Smith, Gary’s first FTO in 005. Shifting from smiles to tears while waiting to pay respects to Kelly at Gary’s visitation, Smith gushed about one of her favorite PPOs of all time.
“I thought maybe the Department was watching me, because he was too good,” Smith further quipped. “Everything I said, he picked it up immediately. I was like, ‘You have been the police before or you’re setting me up.’ Very few recruits I tell the job is for them. I think this job was for him.”

When extolling at his funeral Mass how Gary was the type of guy you wanted to show up if your family was ever in need of help, Su- perintendent Eddie Johnson made reference to just how squared away he was. “Police work came natural to Conrad. Even the paper- work,” Johnson exclaimed.
Gary’s presence appeared impeccable, partly because his uni- form always looked perfect. He had a perfection inside and out, though.
Scott Carter, an officer in 005 who has been on for 13 years, sub- mitted that Gary’s military background enabled him to make an immediate impression. As a marine, Carter saw a special quality in Gary.
“You get guys who come on and maybe think they know it all,” Carter added. “He wasn’t like that.”
Fifth District Officer Mark Mayer, who rode in a beat car with Gary for four months, picked up on this attribute and admired the respect Gary exuded. After working with him on a daily basis, Mayer offered a formidable appraisal that compelled Gary to respond up that hill toward the Metra tracks without having to be told to do so.
didn’t have to tell him too much. He had a good head on his shoulders. He knew what was going on.”
From his time with fami-
ly and friends preparing his
funeral remarks Father Dan
elaborated about how good
a head, how much savvy
Gary had. He accentuated
how Gary was the go-to
guy in his academy class,
the one everybody would
go to for help. He was the
top shot in the class. He
would always answer on the radio when backup or a transport was needed.
“When a fellow officer needed help, he was there,” Father Dan announced. “He was gung-ho to help others, to make arrests if nec- essary, to bring peace to the community that needs peace.”
Indeed, in only 18 months, Gary left an indelible mark on the community. Officer Tim Crawford had taken on the initiative of building relationships within the 5th District community on the City’s far south side. The Pullman neighborhood is a mix of Afri- can-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and other ethnic groups, and is distinctly different from where Gary grew up in Oak Lawn.
“When I asked him if he was interested in doing some work with the youth, he was eager to help right away,” Crawford recalled. “That’s not typical of new officers to want to build relationships within the community, especially one that is so different from the one that they’re from. He treated people like they’re people. He talk- ed to people like they are family. He was just a natural fit speaking to everybody, showing love to everybody.”
As Johnson completed his tribute at the funeral Mass, he summed up what made Conrad Gary a natural, what made his ca- reer memorable in just 18 months on the job. He wanted to make a statement that would make every citizen of Chicago proud to call Officer Conrad Gary one of their own.
“He exemplified the qualities that it takes to be an honorable and faithful public servant. Many officers expected him to quickly make his way up the ranks of the Chicago Police Department. And that is something to be said about a police officer,” Johnson declared. “It’s been said that the fingerprints of God are all over mankind, and that’s especially true with Officer Conrad Gary.”

As he began his homily at the funeral Mass, Father Dan talked about the difficult days; the ones that had just passed and the ones
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“He was a person who knew a lot already,” Mayer clarified. “I
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