Kingston Police Officer Steve Miller has served in the Kingston Police Department for seven years. Recently, he was appointed interim Chief of Police after serving four years as Assistant Chief of police.
Miller and his wife, Pamela, met at church after she and her family moved to Oklahoma from Lubbock, Texas. After returning to Kingston 20 years later from military duty, the duo got married.
Miller said he enjoys working and serving the Town of Kingston.
Q: Tell our readers about yourself?
A: I was born in Kenific, Okla. I actually went to grade school there up until the 5th grade, then my father passed away when I was about nine years old. My mom was working in Durant at the time and she didn't like to drive that much, so we ended up moving to Durant, that was in [19]63.
I graduated from Durant high school in 1971 and went to Grayson College. I ended up going into the army instead of finishing my associates degree, but as you can see (motioning to his associates degree on the wall) I did go back and finally finish it. It took 40 years, but I got it done. Then, I was in the military for eight years on active duty. I was assigned to the United States Army Europe. I was an intelligence analyst and I worked there for the United States Army Europe the 11th Cavalry Regiment and the 5th Corps, that was my three major assignments.
Our principal job was to collect intelligence information, cipher through it, and prepare a daily briefing for the Commanding General, whoever the Commanding General may have been at the time. I'd do that on a regular basis. My specialty was keeping up with the Germans because they were during the Cold War.
I guess they can call them our closest neighbor in Germany. I was kind of specializing in the East Germans. I did look at all the Warsaw Pact Countries back there in the cold war but my particular especially was East Germany. I spent all my time in Germany except for the last six months, so I kind of grew up in Germany.
I got there when I was 21 and I was 27 when I left. I ended up going to Ft. Hood in First Calvary. I liked it there, they're really good people and I really enjoyed my assignment. Some days, I really regret not staying because I could have retired at 38 and still been young enough to go into law enforcement or whatever. But after I got out of the military, I went to work for the city of Denison for a couple of years as a parts buyer for their City Garage.
Then, I had an opportunity to go work for Darr equipment company, which is a Caterpillar dealership. I was there for 18 years and they sold out and when they sold well I thought I would like to move back home closer, because usually when companies like that sale they bring in their own management and staff.
I just thought I'd like to move back home, I was in Oklahoma City and when they sold that's when I decided to move back. I worked for a Case Tractor dealer for about a year and then I worked for John Deere for about a year. Then, I decided I had enough of the equipment business. I really wanted to go into law enforcement, because my degree is in criminal justice. But I didn't do it until late in life. By the time I retire I'll still basically have served 20 years in law enforcement off and on through different assignments.
Q: What year was it when you decided to transition from tractor and equipment sales to law enforcement?
A: That was in about 2004 and starting I off spent seven years with the Durant police Reserves. I obtained the rank of Captain and we had 28 Reserve officers, that's a lot of Reserve officers. We were unique at the time, because basically with one phone call, you could double the size of the police department and that's a luxury these days.
My analogy on that is that anymore with police work even the military, it's not like the day after Pearl Harbor was hit where you got people lined up around the corner wanting to enlist in the military. You don't have that anymore. You don't have that where people want to go to law enforcement, it's really tapered off. There's probably multiple reasons for that but I always looked at law enforcement as being similar to the ministry. In fact you kind of have to feel called to do it; you have to feel like that's something you can do to help society, help individuals. Because it's most certainly not for the money. So I think you have a compulsion to want to serve and help people. There's not such a thing as a routine calling anymore, it could be either something mundane or it could end up being something really out of this world. And I've always mentioned at this job it kind of has to have one spectrum from the other; you need to have the wisdom of King Solomon, tenacity of General Patton, and the compassion of Mother Teresa. It may take a little bit of melding all those to solve a certain situation but having that mindset is important because not every situation is the same. And the objective is to try your best to de-escalate anything that is getting serious but anymore you just don't have people lining up wanting to go into law enforcement. That's a shame it is a rewarding career as I said previously I really wish that I had gone into it sooner. But I kind of feel like I've had an opportunity to have three careers in my lifetime; one being in the military, second being in the equipment business, and now of course I'm in law enforcement. I feel fortunate in having an opportunity to get the most Gusto out of life during my time on this Earth.
Q: Tell our readers about your family, are you married, do you have children?
A: Yes I am married. I've been married for about 22 years. She is already turned in her Spurs so to speak. She just stays home and takes care of her mom. She has a son that lives, Michael, who lives in Ardmore and I have a son, John Paul, that lives in Denison. We don't get to see them as we would like anymore, but they're all grown, they're adults. They're out doing their own thing. No grandkids yet.
Q: How did you and your wife meet?
A: we actually meant before I went into the military we met and then I went into the military and of course we wrote for a while and of course that tapered off everything just kind of died down and then we by chance happen to bump into each other some almost 20 years later and we ended up getting back together we just happened to know each other before through the church that she went to she's originally from Lubbock, some of her family was from Oklahoma and they moved here and they lived up in Caddo. She's got a sister and brother that lives in Durant. Then I have three brothers. One lives in Garland, he's retired. Then the next one he's also a retired Major from Texas Highway Patrol.
Q: Your family has deep roots and a long tradition in law enforcement.
A: (Pointing to a framed photo of three gentlemen) That's my great grandfather to the right, he was Marshall in Indian Territory; and then that's my grand Uncle which was his brother. He was a US Marshal in Indian Territory. It's been sort of a tradition in my family. One thing, all my brothers, all four of us have served in the military. Every one of us. I have one brother who spent 35 years for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Myself and all three of my brothers have served in the military and my oldest brother the only difference three of us were in the Army and then my older brother was in the Air Force but we are still claiming. So he spent 4 years in the Air Force and two of those were in Spain that was back a long long time ago in late (19) 50s early 60s.
Q: What brought you to this area?
A: Well being from Durant my mom had passed away in early 2000 and my wife and I decided to move back to Durant. I had an option to purchase her home. It was a sound financial decision, more than anything else, as you can't buy a house of this edition for 25% off. It was in a trust so we decided we would buy it and we've been here ever since. I guess I will probably finish up there. I worked for the Texas prison system for a while and then I worked for the Chickasaws doing security. And how I ended up here is I had worked at Southeastern University and then I went to work for the prison system in Texas. And then after a couple years I figured it wasn't for me, you almost get to feeling like you're in prison yourself after you've been there for a while. So I had an opportunity to go to work for the Chickasaws and of course I'm Choctaw myself. I was investigator for the gaming commission for about four or five years but I've left the gaming commission and went to Southeastern and that's where I was able to get my police commission. And then after I went to Southeastern to work I ended up going to the prison system and went through their Academy and everything and finished that up. I then the drive was one of the big deals, wasn't the drive really the job, really wasn't that bad but the drive was, it was about 40 miles one way, every day. That gets old and there is wear and tear on the car. I left for systems in Texas and had an opportunity to go work here at Kingston at the game center doing security. My initial intention was to be a Reserve officer here in Kingston because I had my certification and as a matter of fact I had my full certification. I went through the reserve school then I went to the full time School that was when I was in Durant, so Southeastern gave me an opportunity to get my full Cleet certification. When I got done with that and when I was out here I wanted to be a Reserve officer. I met with the chief at that time and he saw my credentials and he said well you know actually I would like to see if you would like to go to work full time. I asked what it paid and it was more than what I was making and I said well I don't see why not. So what I guess I was what you might call a rarity because I was fully certified. They wouldn't have to send me to school, I had experience, it wasn't like he was turning anybody loose that didn't know anything at all. So this coming December that was 7 years ago. Worked as a patrolman for a couple of years and then under Chief Watson, he selected me to be the assistant. This coming December I'll have been the assistant chief for four years and right now I'm acting as interim Chief until such time the council selects a new chief.
Q: Will you be applying for the position?
A: Yes I have submitted, of course everyone here that is qualified has the right to do that. As a matter of fact I have encouraged them to do so because turnabout is fair play, but I did submit for it. I've only got three more years to go before I retire so this could be one more milestone to click off before I retire, if I were to be selected. But that's up to the Council on how they feel about it after looking at everyone's qualifications. I had to really think hard about it. I have enjoyed being an assistant in all of that but you know I went to the trouble of finishing my associate degree. I've got 1653 hours of CLEET training, I've got my Advanced Peace Officer Certificate, and I couldn't help but think if you have all this stuff and you're not really using it to its full potential that's not fair to me or to anybody else. So like I say if I am not selected I am still proud to serve here and will continue to do so. There have been some fellow officers that have said they are thinking about doing that too and I said that's fine I encourage you to, that decision is not mine to make.
Q: Is there anything else about your family you would like to talk about?
A: Last year, I had a cousin who was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame. It was Captain George Miller. He was a D Company Commander of the 5th Ranger Battalion and he got inducted into the Hall of Fame. We couldn't attend, they usually have an Oklahoma City and covid messed everything up for 2 years. So they had a ranger reunion in New Orleans and I went down there for it. My cousin, George's son, and his grandson were there and we all had a good time. It was at the World War II museum. He's even mentioned in some books and stuff for his service in World War II. It's a miracle. I saw a t-shirt once that said 'Not everyone gets to know their hero but mine is family.' And you can get on there that said either like cousin, brother, uncle, or son so I bought all my cousins the appropriate t-shirt for that. Also my father-in-law was in the Navy, as a matter of fact he served on the Intrepid.The Intrepid now is a museum in New York and he served on the Intrepid.
Q: Do you have any plans for after retirement?
A: It had crossed my mind, of course. I have my armed private investigator license and I had thought about maybe checking with some of the local attorneys there in Durant to see if any of them are needing help. I can set my own schedule with that. I've had a couple of deals where I've had some injuries and I've had to be off for a little while and about the first week so okay but after that the second or third week you know I need to find something to do. I've seen too many people hang it up and then a month later they are dead. Everybody's going to keep moving and all of that. I do enjoy shooting and I've got a pretty good collection of firearms. I'll probably do that but that's getting so expensive anymore, but I figured I'd probably find something to do. I don't think I'd want to work full time but I would want to have something I could do. I've always enjoyed investigative type work and it could be if attorneys need something checked out I could do so because right now with my license is not active I do have it all I'd have to do is just renew it.
Q: Is there anything that you would like to say to our readers?
A:I just like to say that for what time I have worked here I have appreciated everybody's support and I hope that I have been able to help some folks along the way and I want to continue to try to do that.