We salute one of Poplar Bluff’s most dedicated public servants

Danny Whiteley has devoted a large chunk of his life to public service in Butler County and Southeast Missouri.

His law enforcement career began in 1972 as a reserve deputy through the Butler County, Ripley County and Scott County sheriff’s departments, and he has spent the past 22-plus years leading the Poplar Bluff Police Department. He also has been a key player with the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force.

In addition, Whiteley also served on the Poplar Bluff R-I Board of Education in the 1990s before becoming chief of police.

Whiteley announced earlier this week his public service career will end on Sept. 9, as he retires as chief of police and ends the longest tenure of leadership in the 139-year history of the PBPD.

One of the major achievements of Whiteley’s record-setting tenure leading the PBPD is the construction of its new headquarters that will open soon — a first for the department.

“Since (its creation) in 1883, the Poplar Bluff Police Department has never had a facility built (specifically) for the police department,” Whiteley said. “It’s always been some reconstructed hospital, train depot, so forth and so on. … Getting this new police (headquarters) done was, for lack of a better term, a monumental feat.”

Like so many public service achievements, the new headquarters was a team effort, a fact Whiteley pointed out. He credited several of his fellow public servants for helping the new headquarters become a reality, among them current Poplar Bluff city manager Matt Winters, former city manager Mark Massingham, plus current and former city council members Shane Cornman, Lisa Parson, Barbara Ann Horton, Steve Davis and Ron Black.

Whiteley also gave credit to First Missouri State Bank and its president, Paul Tucker, for a $3 million donation that enabled the department to buy the property for the new headquarters.

Another key achievement during Whiteley’s tenure leading the PBPD was solving the Jeffrey Shelton case. Shelton was a sexual predator who kidnapped a girl out of the Karen West housing project on the southside of Poplar Bluff in 2012. The department was able to capture Shelton quickly — and retrieve the girl safely.

“There’s been numerous other big cases, murder cases and stuff like that,” Whiteley said, “but that was one I will always remember. We had the (help of the) FBI down from St. Louis and the U.S. Marshal Service and we got it done. That was the good Lord looking after her.”

After he retires from leading the PBPD, Whiteley and wife will be heading to Ohio to live near their daughter and her family, allowing them to spend more time with them.

After so many years of public service, it is safe to say Whiteley has earned his chance to enjoy life — and our thanks for a long career of service to Poplar Bluff.