Parker County Today August 2015 | Page 20

Tracey Cryer – Willow Park PD Patrol Officer “Cops and Robbers” is a classic childhood game Willow Park Police Department Patrol Officer Tracey Cryer recalls fondly. Even at 5 years old, Cryer knew. “I always wanted to be the cop,” he said. “I never wanted to be the bad guy.” Cryer worked in the funeral industry and mall security/management before becoming a public servant. “At about 31, I realized I wasn’t getting any younger and it was time to pursue the call of my life as an officer,” he said. He’s served and protected for more than 12 years. His favorite part of the job is “not necessarily having to work the lights and sirens, but meeting with people and helping them solve their problems. I am a people person. … We don’t always deal with bad folks, it’s the good people that we deal with — it’s that accomplishment at the end of the day, that you’ve done something good.” Stewart Chalmers – Weatherford Police Department Sergeant Stewart Chalmers is a public-servant legacy child, with a twist. Having grandfathers and great-grandfathers in the ministry and parents who taught school, Chalmers said his family had a profound impact on his career choice. “[Public service] has always been a part of me, from the time I was ‘knee-high to a grasshopper’ growing up,” he said. “I didn’t want to be a minister or a teacher, but I wanted to serve people, so I [eventually] decided law enforcement was my calling.