After nearly 35 years, Bellevue Police said farewell to Major John McCracken. McCracken’s a Bellevue native and started his career as a dispatcher in 1986, after graduating from Newport High School, Bellevue College, and the University of Washington.
He soon became a police support officer and then a Bellevue police officer in 1988.
McCracken is a ‘cops cop.’ He is tenacious, competitive, and a team player. “John always had your back,” said Sergeant Dave DeVore, who worked his entire career with McCracken. “But he also challenged you, everyone, and that made us all better cops at the end of the day.”
During his career, John was a patrol officer, a motorcycle officer, Field Training Officer, Patrol, and Traffic Unit Captain. He also served as a Special Detail Unit Detective, SWAT Team Commander, Investigations Captain, and since 2017, as Investigations Major.
“It’s difficult to underestimate the impact Major McCracken has had on BPD over the years; his leadership, energy, compassion, and ability to make even the most difficult jobs seem effortless will be missed,” said Assistant Chief Carl Kleinknecht. “When John arrived on scene, you were confident the job would get done and get done well.”
Of the hundreds of cases McCracken’s investigated, the one that bothers him most is the Sky Metalwala case. Sky vanished in 2011 and has never been found. “We could never determine what happened to Sky. We know he didn’t disappear from Bellevue that day, and we suspect only his mom can tell us what happened to him,” McCracken said.
McCracken says he’s been lucky to have had some great assignments over the years, like getting paid to ride a motorcycle. But his fondest memories are working with the Make A Wish Foundation helping kids who deserved a special day, including Electron Boy and Justice Boy.
Electron Boy 
Justice Boy
“This has been an amazingly satisfying career. I wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else. I’m lucky to have had the opportunity to serve the city where I grew up.”
The son-in-law of one victim, noticed his father-in-law’s car leaving the neighborhood. Knowing his father-in-law was out of town, the man tried to stop the suspects, but they fled by driving through a neighbor’s yard. The resident called police, and detectives were able to track down and arrest both Purvis and Wood. Woods was wearing a victim’s Rolex watch on his right wrist. The investigation showed Purvis had ten prior felony convictions.
There are also more pedestrians and cyclists out during the stay-home measures, and that makes increased speed, combined with distracted driving, even more dangerous. Captain Nault urged drivers to pay attention, “The likelihood of a pedestrian being killed is only 5% if a car strikes them at 20 mph but jumps to 40% if that same car is only going ten mph faster. These collisions are preventable, that’s what’s so tragic.”
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