The City of Los Alamitos was incorporated in 1960.  It appears with a review of city records, that the Police Department began its operation in 1962.

PRIOR CHIEFS OF POLICE

Donald French, November 1, 1961 to June 30, 1968

Roy J. Kundtz, October 21, 1968 to August 1, 1974

Robert E. Cabot, August 27, 1974 to January 31, 1979

Kelson McDaniel, January 22, 1979 to October 4, 1985

James D. Guess, December 16, 1985 to August 8, 1993

Michael J. Skogh, January 3, 1994 to March 12, 1999

Michael R. McCrary, March 15, 1999 to March 11, 2007

Michael R. McCrary was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, California, where he majored in criminal justice. He later received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration from the University of Redlands.

Chief McCrary began his law enforcement career as a patrol officer with the West Covina Police Department in 1964.

In 1973, he left West Covina and joined the Palm Springs Police Department. He was promoted to the position of Sergeant and served as a Field Patrol Sergeant, Community Relations Sergeant, and Internal Affairs Sergeant. He was then promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and served as both the Watch Commander and Lieutenant in charge of the Detective Division. He was also the coordinator for the Police Reserve Program and the Palm Springs Aero Squadron.

He joined the Signal Hill Police Department on November 8, 1982, as Chief of Police and directed all phases of a full service police department. His first and utmost responsibility, aside from public safety, was to improve the organization, which had suffered from negative nation-wide media coverage during the previous two years. He accomplished this through a total rebuilding of the organization.

In addition to his responsibilities as Chief of Police, from 1993-1995, he also served as the Assistant City Manager for the City of Signal Hill. He was responsible for all phases of personnel and employee development. He retired from the Signal Hill Police Department in 1995.

In April of 2000, he was selected as the Chief of Police for the City of Los Alamitos. Chief McCrary was committed to ensuring that the community continued to receive the same high quality police services that it had always received.

Chief McCrary retired on March 11, 2007 after 8 years of service to the community and City of Los Alamitos.