Former Dayton Police Chief James Newby said policing would benefit from departments that were full of officers with the same dedication and kindness as Whalen. And, he said, anyone would be better off if they lived their life with the same character.
“You don’t have to be a police officer to treat other people the same way Steve Whalen did,” Newby said. “I’m sure Steve treated people very, very well before he ever became a police officer, and all his years as a police officer he treated people well.”
Whalen died on March 22, 1991, after being shot on Xenia Avenue. The traffic stop was in connection to an investigation into an earlier shooting. Authorities eventually arrested Karl Vultee, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
People who knew Whalen spoke to the Dayton Daily News this month, commemorating his legacy and remembering his life.
A community police officer
Whalen was a community-oriented police officer to the very end.
Dayton Police Detective Patty Tackett said Whalen had a community activist riding along with him the day he was shot.
“People don’t necessarily like taking riders. When the sergeant goes to rollcall and asks who’s going to take a rider, everybody runs the other way, but Steve was the type of person who would gravitate to it,” Tackett said. “He was fine doing it, he wanted to do it, and it was his privilege to do it.”
Tackett was responsible for staying with the activist in the hours after the shooting, which required her to remain at the scene longer than others. She also had to stay with the woman at the police department overnight before she was allowed to leave in the morning. And on her way to her car, Tackett saw Whalen’s vehicle still parked outside.
She was a young officer, and the experience has impacted her ever since.
“When you come on, you know that’s the chance that you take, but when you see it all right in front of you, it kind of changes things. It makes it more realistic,” she said.
Tackett said few officers who worked with Whalen remain on the force as many have retired or moved on. But, she said his name still comes up, and it’s important for everyone to remember his sacrifice.
Newby said losing an officer in the line of duty is difficult for a department.
“The number of officers I’ve seen (killed in the line of duty), they always seem to have something special about them,” he said.
Whalen was no different, Newby said.
“I’ve heard hundreds of people say similar things about Steve,” Newby said. “The things he did for people, it’s not like he felt he needed to in order to maintain his job. That was Steve Whalen. If he was on his day off and nobody would even know that he was a police officer, and he saw somebody that needed help, he would help them.”
A steward of the community
People who knew Whalen said he was a caretaker of his neighborhood.
Elaine Johnson, who worked with him as part of her position as a coordinator of the Southeast Priority Board, recounted a time he went out of his way to help when he didn’t have to.
“One of our elderly priority board members was walking home with groceries one day, and she lived on a street with steep steps to climb up to the home,” Johnson said. “Steve happened to be driving by and saw her struggling with her groceries and in typical Steve fashion, he pulls over, gets out of the car, takes the groceries and carries them up the steps for her and into the house. Little thing, but so meaningful and important to that person. That’s just the way he was.”
Johnson recalled that the Southeast Priority Board always had an officer assigned to meetings to address any issues that may come up. Whalen would sometimes come in even though he wasn’t assigned just to hear the concerns of the community and find ways that he could help, she said.
“Anytime anyone mentions the name Steve Whalen, for anyone that knew him, it always brings a smile to their face because he was just that type of individual,” Johnson said. “He was a hard-working police officer, but he was also a very thoughtful, caring individual. And he served this community by not only doing his police work but also by going above and beyond.”
Legacy lives on today
A number of prominent tributes have been created to honor the legacy of Steve Whalen, including a policing award, a street name and a mural that was painted along that street.
Every year a Dayton police officer is honored with the Steven Whalen Memorial Policing Award at the Dayton Police Department Awards Ceremony. The award goes to the officer who has best-exemplified community policing and the values of Whalen.
The police department accepts nominations from the community, and then the Steve Whalen Memorial Fund Committee chooses the winning officer based on those nominations.
It’s one of the most prestigious awards an officer can win, and Det. Tackett was one of the early winners.
“I just knew how respected he was to the community, and to have anybody feel that I gave back” was special, Tackett said. “You come to work every day hoping that you do make a difference —and you say that during your interview — but sometimes some people do and sometimes some people don’t, and I feel like I did..”
Along with the policing award, a more prominent public tribute is the naming of Steve Whalen Boulevard, which connects Wyoming Street and Hamilton Avenue.
A mural depicting Whalen and uplifting messages was painted along the street in 2014 but was defaced last summer during the height of social justice protests. That mural is coming back, Jason Antonick said. He is heading the project that not only will be dedicated to Whalen but will also be representative of the entire community.
“Steve Whalen was all about community policing, so we want to get the community’s input,” he said.
Meetings have and are being held to get as many ideas as possible, he said.
“The feedback that we are getting with regard to how the mural should look is that the mural should identify and recognize how east Dayton has changed and that the mural is representative of the way the community looks now. We want the mural to be embracing and connected to the community Steve served.”
Antonick said the previous mural was made on a minimal budget but the new one will have more financial backing. He said the plan is to solicit artists starting in the second quarter of this year and the mural will be painted with volunteer help in the third quarter.
About the Author
