Former Tulsa homicide leader Dave Walker discusses new role with Crime Stoppers

Former Tulsa Police Department homicide commander Dave Walker, who served the department for more than 30 years, is taking on a new role with Crime Stoppers, working to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community.

Walker, who retired more than six years ago, reflected on his time in law enforcement and the challenges in recruiting new officers.

"It looks like a great profession, and it's really kind of amazing to me that we're having such a hard time recruiting people into that profession," Walker said. "Man, just the goodness that is in that profession. Doing the good work for the people is so satisfying. And, you know, it's a living."

He emphasized that law enforcement is evolving with technology, offering a variety of career paths beyond traditional police work.

"It's beyond the cutting edge. I mean, law enforcement is changing with technology," he said. "You know, you got the real-time crime center. You've got Crime Stoppers. You've got people to communicate with, and you don't have to be out there on the street."

Walker, now a Crime Stoppers board member, said he is excited to bring his expertise to the organization and help improve crime prevention efforts.

"Crime is something I obviously know a little bit more about and can assist the board," Walker said. "They don't see Crime Stoppers from the detective side of it, and maybe I can bring a little bit of perspective into that and how we get into the community."

Throughout his career, Walker relied on Crime Stoppers to solve crimes and even prevent further violence.

"I've said forever, ever since I've been a detective, we cannot prevent crime without Crime Stoppers. We can't solve these crimes because we're not there," he said. "One thing that stands out for me, there's two really. A Crime Stoppers tip led to us saving somebody—a murder suspect who was stabbed in the stomach during the murder. We were able to get to him before he died. And then we had another Crime Stoppers tip that came in a couple of years back that there was somebody dead that we didn't even know about. That led us to the investigation, prior to us finding the body and making an arrest."

In addition to his role on the Crime Stoppers board, Walker is also involved with Project Trust, an initiative aimed at building relationships between law enforcement and Tulsa Public Schools students.

"I think that's the name garnished by the executive officer of Crime Stoppers," Walker said. "I don't really know what that is, but I do know I'm excited about the program. That's getting into Tulsa Public Schools and having officers come in and talk to these kids like real people. Karen started this program way back when I was at a crime scene where Project Trust was an integral part of maybe preventing more rocks being thrown at us."

Walker stressed the importance of building trust between law enforcement and the community, noting that without it, solving crimes becomes significantly more difficult.

"If we don't have that trust, we don't have the information," he said. "You don't have the 97-100% solve rate that they're doing today. The detectives are really good, the department's really good, but without that information coming from the citizens, we're dead in the water, really, so to speak. And Tulsa is different. People are willing to talk to us. I think, for a lot of different reasons, they trust us because we're real people, and we'll talk to you like we're real folks."

Walker hopes his new role with Crime Stoppers and Project Trust will continue to foster that trust and make Tulsa a safer place for everyone.