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 is committed to ensuring that the community continues to receive the same high quality of police services that it has always received.