Bailey, a 20-year veteran with the Chicago Police Department, had just come off his shift guarding Mayor Richard Daley when he was shot and killed.
"He served in detail protecting my home and had many opportunities coming out early before police officers arrived to pick me up, I would talk to him. My family would, and he always was very kind, considerate," Mayor Daley said of Bailey as the officer's badge -- Star 13970 -- was placed in the Honored Star Case at police headquarters. Bailey's star is the 480th to be retired and placed in the memorial case.
"I miss Michael. I'm still glad he was a Chicago police officer. He was a great man, a great husband, a great father. And I miss him. I am honored that everybody came out for him today," Pamela Bailey, Officer Bailey's widow, said.
Officer Bailey's daughter, Jada, is a police cadet determined more than ever to follow in her father's footsteps.
"My father would be very proud of what I'm doing. He would tell me, don't let this stop me or become a hindrance. What happened that one day does not take away from all the years he served," Jada Bailey said. She is taking her physical test in just two weeks.
No one has been charged in the July 18, 2010 murder outside the Bailey home on South Evans.
"It hurts, it hurts. Whoever it is is walking around. My husband is not. It hurts," Pamela Bailey said. "Somebody out there knows something. This code of silence is awful, and that's something that needs to be broken. How would they feel if this was their family?"
