Advice to new Naperville cops: 'Be another George Pradel'

The best advice two cops and a sergeant received Thursday came from retired officers who attended their swearing-in ceremony to honor Naperville's iconic Officer Friendly, Mayor George Pradel.

The key to being a successful cop, the retired officers said, is to be like Pradel and share his concern for children, his dedication to the community and his caring attitude.

"If you can be another George Pradel - you've got to be that tough cop; you've got to be that kind, thoughtful, true, loving person that is dedicated to the city of Naperville - if you can do that, you will be as successful as George Pradel," Jon Ripsky, a retired Naperville police captain who worked with Pradel, told the three cops who took the oath. "And those are big shoes to fill in this job. It's not just a job riding around in a car chasing bad guys. It's making an impact on our great city."

Pradel, who was lauded for advocating for children, teaching them about safety and serving Naperville with his whole heart, was presented with the Dick Tracy Top Cop Award recognizing his 29 years as a police officer and 20 years as mayor.

"My heart is blessed," Pradel said after receiving the award from Police Chief Robert Marshall.

Pradel thought he was only stopping by the municipal center to swear in new officers Kenneth Razionale and Kevin Roche and promote officer Scott Thorsen to sergeant. In his two decades as mayor, Pradel has either sworn in or promoted 371 officers, Marshall said, and he's never delegated the responsibility to anyone else.

Pradel said he enjoys swearing in officers because he likes to yell, loudly and with pride, so all can hear the oath each officer takes to serve and protect. Since becoming mayor, he's kept an eye on the department where he built a career.

"I see the officers going out of their way to help people," Pradel said. "And that's what it's all about."

When he was a lieutenant, Pradel wouldn't always be at the station as his subordinates expected. Marshall, who worked under Pradel as a sergeant, said Officer Friendly often would be at schools teaching crime prevention or at Safety Town working with kids or with new bus drivers training them to drive safely.

"He is perhaps best-known for the positive impact he has had in the lives of children," Marshall said.

Inspired by his values of family, faith and community, Pradel said he simply "wanted to treat people the way I want to be treated."

And when he treated misbehaving kids the way he would have treated his own - Carol, Gary and George - he helped keep many Naperville youths on the right path, Ripsky said.

"If it wouldn't have been for George, many of the kids and people in this community would not be where they're at," Ripsky said.

Pradel's efforts to connect with kids, visit with business owners and let residents know he cared marked an early version of a now-popular police strategy, said Paul Shafer, a retired Naperville police officer who now works as Highland Park police chief.

"This is the man who invented community policing before community policing had a label," Shafer said. "He was doing things that a lot of police officers thought didn't make a difference. They were wrong."

In ways large and small, Pradel has made a difference for thousands and deserves to be recognized - and to be used as a role model for new officers like those sworn in Thursday, said retired Chief Dave Dial.

"Some people may live their lives and wonder if they matter," Dial said. "George Pradel will not have that problem. He knows the answer."