Published: May 11, 2008 12:35 am            

Patroling the Past:

Detective turns donations into police museum

PALESTINE — Recognizing Det. Charles Steen’s office at the Palestine Police Department isn’t difficult for first-time visitors.

The historic photographs from the department’s past, lining the painted cinder block walls, serve as framed welcome signs leading to his office door.

When Steen, a former motorcycle officer nicknamed “Officer Long Barrel” for his extra-long pistol, swings open the door, visitors can step back in time to a long-gone Palestine where officers walked downtown beats and kept an eye out for a red light signaling trouble.

A time when the city’s police chiefs had the titles of city marshal or superintendent, and could be spotted by their longer neckties, rather than the bowties worn by patrolmen.

A time when the police superintendent could walk into the city council meeting and tell the city fathers that he’d purchased an Indian motorcycle for the department’s use and he needed reimbursement.

Nearly 200 photographs, memorabilia, an old siren and the red light fill the small, windowless office, making Steen’s flat screen computer monitor and desk phone look out of place.

Welcome to the Palestine Police Museum, one of the city’s best kept secrets.

“What Palestine knows is I’m working on a book on the history of the department. That was in the paper,” Steen said. “But I don’t think I really went into the fact that I was making a museum.”

Built by Steen, the museum commemorates the department’s past back to its inception in 1871 through photos, badges, equipment and even a uniform, donated by officers’ family members and community members who heard of his plans to write a book chronicling the department’s history, with biographies of the various police chiefs.

When the city council voted to have a police department in December 1871, the department was set up with a city marshal and two policemen, according to old council minutes. The marshal title remained until 1909, when the city adopted a commissioner form of government and changed the title to police chief.

“I thought I had 26 chiefs and then I found where a couple of them served different times and then I had one that I was missing and before we knew it I could count 30 chiefs of police in the history of the department,” Steen said. “I thought, well that’s great, let me see how many pictures we’ve got. Out of the 30 pictures, I had five so I started really going, trying to get more pictures.

“What you see today is 29 of 30 pictures. The only one we don’t have is William Black, who was chief in 1913 and 1915, and that is proving to be a very difficult picture to obtain.”

Making the time and extra effort to collect and chronicle the department’s history isn’t an easy feat, police chief Larry Coutorie said.

“I think it’s something that frequently in departments — because we become so involved in day-to-day activities policing an entity — goes unattended,” Coutorie said. “I think it’s good that Det. Steen has dedicated himself to digging out the past, documenting it and preserving it.

“I’m very impressed,” Coutorie added. “He’s very tenacious. That’s why he’s a good detective. He’s done this completely on his own.”

Every photograph and item has a story, which Steen gladly shares with visitors.

Take the story of the city’s first police motorcycle, purchased in 1913 by police superintendent Turner Parker Moore.

“This shows how much power police superintendents had,” Steen said, pointing to a photo on his office wall displaying the motorcycle. “He showed up and announced summarily to the council and the mayor that he had bought a motorcycle for the police department and he needed a check from the council that night to pay for it.

“What we got was, in 1914, was our first motorized vehicle which was a 1914 Indian motorcycle. Palestine at that time still had no (police) cars.”

Not until 1930 did the department get its first patrol car, a Model A Ford, Steen explained to visitors. The department’s prior car, bought in 1918, wasn’t fit for patrol use and was instead used by the police superintendent to go to work.

“Up until that time, most traffic enforcement was done by the motorcycle officer because all of the other officers were either on horseback or were still walking the beat on foot,” Steen said. “They got that Model A Ford and they were really proud to have that.”

Which led Steen to a photograph of a 1934 Ford, a vehicle whose photo had been missing from the collection until Palestine resident Lynda Sansom and her aunt, Nelda Mack, brought it in. One of the officers standing by the car was Mack’s father, Ira Cook, the second-ranking officer at that time.

In addition to the photo, Sansom also loaned Cook’s 1927 badge, whistle and slapper to be displayed in a glass case Steen obtained when a local downtown retail shop closed.

“Those are some wonderful artifacts we’re glad to have on loan,” Steen said.

Every photograph and piece of memorabilia he receives is cataloged so that they can be returned to the proper owner.

“If the public has artifacts they’d like to put on loan, we’d be happy to display them,” he said. “If anyone wants to make a donation of artifacts, we’d take them, too.

“We’ve got a lot of officers who’ve never seen anything like this. We’ve got the perfect tool. This is a readily available place that we can let a lot of people see and enjoy some of the artifacts. We appreciate any kind of loan or donation to let the community share in that.”

Not every piece of memorabilia has made it into the museum.

One badge, worn by Hal Barton when he was assistant chief, turned up on an Internet auction site.

“That was on eBay a couple years ago,” Steen said. “I was bidding on it and somebody else was bidding on it that had more money than I did and wanted it, I guess. Money was no object, and I finally had to bow out. I couldn’t match the guy.”

Likewise, sometimes photographs have needed extra work with photo editing software to get them in condition to display or use in the book.

Steen scans each photo he receives, but sometimes has used Adobe Photoshop to remove scratches and tears and touch up spots before printing and framing them and returning the originals.

Sansom said she was impressed with the speed in which the detective has processed the photos she’s loaned him.

“You got these from me one morning about 10 o’clock and we came back the next morning about 10 o’clock and you already had them framed,” she said, pointing out some of her contributions.

“When I get a picture that’s a major find, I get excited and I can’t get it copied quick enough, and as soon as I get it copied I’m going to Wal-Mart to get frames for it,” Steen explained.

As the walls have grown, so have the number of photos in his book, “A History of the Palestine Police Department,” which currently has over 300 pages written.

Having researched, written and published a book chronicling the history of the Palestine Masonic Lodge in 1998, Steen knew the challenges he would face in trying to record the police department’s history.

But as word has gotten out about his police project, people have sought him out with more photos, artifacts and information.

“Right now, everything kind of feeds on itself,” he said. “As the continued research and writing of the book is going on, I’m getting more photographs, and from photographs, I’ll find out something more to put in the book.”

He hopes to have the book ready for print by September, and ready for sale by the Dogwood Trails Festival in late March 2009.

At this point, he’s paid for everything out of his own pocket, but Steen would like to see a local non-profit organization step forward and offer to offset some of the printing expense. He plans to donate any profit from the book’s sales to the police officers’ fund, but would be willing to split profits with a non-profit service group which would help with printing costs.

The museum will be open to the public from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, with no admission charge. Visitors should ask the dispatcher to call Steen’s office to come give the tour, or call his office in advance to arrange a time.

For more information, call Steen’s office at 903-731-8468 or the police non-emergency number at 903-729-2254.

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Beth Foley may be contacted via e-mail at bfoley@palestineherald.com

        

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