Fred Waller’s office has been cleared out.
His phone doesn’t ring as often as it used to, either, and that’s what he’s going to miss most.
After 34 years with the Chicago Police Department, Waller, the CPD’s chief of operations, is set to retire Aug. 15.
The 58-year-old will leave the CPD after years of leading the department’s Bureau of Patrol, as well as overseeing several police districts on the South Side. He’s also had assignments as a tactical lieutenant and has worked in gang investigations.
His retirement comes as the department works to implement a structural reorganization amid surging gun violence on the South and West sides, civil unrest and attacks upon police officers.
“I don’t want to feel like I’m walking away from a challenge, because I’ve never done that,” Waller said. “I’ve always tried to absorb that challenge and walk into a challenging situation. But it just seems like it’s maybe the right time for me. I never want to be seen as someone who walks away from a challenge, so that’s the hard part for me in this environment that we’re in right now.”
Even after rising to the department’s command staff, Waller — whose son is also a CPD officer — says he still feels like a beat cop, and he’s worked to show rank-and-file that they have his support.
“I’ve always been on the front lines because at heart I’m a street cop,” Waller said. “I’ve always tried to be in front of things and to support the officers, to let them know that even at this level [on the command staff], I’m going to be with you. I’m going to be down there with you, helping you, struggling with you, facing those challenges with you.”
But that’s not to say he hasn’t enjoyed his time at the top of the department.
“The time to be at the table with the mayors and the decision-makers, to see different things behind the scenes, what they’re saying up at the podium, but [also] behind the scenes, the things that are being said, just to be part of that, I would not trade that for the world,” Waller said. “I really would not.”
One of his proudest moments in his career came in December 2018.
Officers Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo were both struck and killed by a commuter train on the Far South Side while the two were chasing a man suspected of firing a gun nearby.
That night, Waller was tasked with notifying both officers’ families of the deaths. When he returned to the train tracks, Waller saw his fellow command staff members working to collect the two officers’ remains. He felt compelled to join them.
“There’s no way I’m not going to be part of recovering their remains,” he said. “[It was] just one of the saddest and proudest days, just to see everyone in those white uniforms recovering their remains proudly. I had just spoken to their families so I knew this is something I had to be part of. It was just amazing. It was really amazing. And it was something that always will stand out with me throughout the years.”
Waller’s retirement closely follows that of former First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio.
But though he rose to the third-highest position in the 13,500-person department, Waller says he initially wanted to be a detective, working with his patrol partner of 11 years.
“We wanted to be detectives together and ride off into the sunset and work together,” he said.
And while he gets fewer work calls ahead of his retirement, Waller and his old partner, a recent retiree himself, still talk regularly.
“Oh, we talk every day like little girls,” Waller said with a laugh. “We talk two or three times a day. He’s my best friend.”
The relationships he’s built over 34 years on the job are what Waller holds very dear.
If he could go back in time and give young Officer Fred Waller any advice, it would be this: “Just to appreciate things a little bit more, and make sure that the relationships that you form, you know, the long-lasting relationships and things, are sustainable and that you just take time with those people.”
