Detective Steve DeKraker is Littlefield Police Department’s newest detective.
DeKraker started at LPD Wednesday, June 15, 2022, but has been in law enforcement for most of his adult life.
“I spent the last eight years working for the Slaton Police Department, the last four of which have been with investigations,” he said. “So prior to that, I went into the academy when I was 20 and I’m 30 now, so I’ve pretty much spent my whole life in law enforcement- adult life at least.”
DeKraker said he has two associate degrees and a master’s degree in criminal justice and law enforcement technology.
“I got two associates and a masters degree all in criminal justice and law enforcement technology, with that I moved into investigations in Slaton and then I became affiliated with the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and now the FBI’s Threat Assessment and Threat Management Task Force, which focuses on school safety,” he said.
DeKraker said he did the safety training with Littlefield Independent School District.
“I did that,” he said. “I’ve done two of them since I’ve been here. We’ve got another one coming up in January with the school, hopefully we can kind of work on that and do a Cybersecurity thing...kind of hopefully minimize the risk of these kids being victimized through the internet, primarily through online solicitation, manufacturing of child pornography. That kind of stuff is what I focus on. A lot of these kids are victimized in that way, a lot more than what the community realizes so while we’re working on the cases, we’re also working on education, which is a big part of it.”
DeKraker said within the three task forces he has worked in, the FBI Agent that works over him recommended he come work for Chief Hester Ross.
“...because [Ross] had a good affiliation with the FBI and he thought it could be a place where I excel and kind of inform with more specialized investigations,” he said. “Ross actually contacted me...and offered me an opportunity to come interview, so...I accepted that job offer to become a full time major crimes investigator. Within that capacity I mainly focus on homicides, sexual assault, agg. robberies, and then obviously with the stuff I focus on internet crimes against children is a big part of that with the task force stuff.”
DeKraker said since he was a teenager, he has wanted to be in law enforcement.
“I’ve always wanted to focus on crimes against children, because I just always felt it was the worst crime imaginable,” he said. “As a teenager, I saw people affected in that way, so I decided when I got into college...I decided that there’s so many problems in the world, everybody complains nonstop, might as well do something about it instead of just complain. I went into law enforcement with the idea to help and apply my skills to doing better for the community instead of just talking about it.”
DeKraker said he got his associates in criminal justice through South Plains College “If you do the South Plains College Academy, you just have to do one or two more classes to get your second associates, by going to the Police Academy, basically I got an associates in law enforcement technologies so that was kind of another reason, is it would further my education that kind of influenced a little bit, but more than anything it was just a desire to, you know, make a difference instead of just talk about what the change needs to be,” he said.
DeKraker said working in homicides and crimes against children, he learned to disconnect through hobbies to help deal with the difficulties of his job. “You have to have the ability to disconnect, you have to have outlets,” he said. “Some people find their disconnect within their family...whether that’s hunting, fishing, golfing, I try and do all of it just because when you’re playing golf or you’re hunting or fishing, that time you’re doing it, your mind is completely disconnecting and you’re not thinking about any of the things you deal with on a daily basis. Having that disconnect is pretty vital to processing that stuff, especially when you’re working homicides, child pornography cases and stuff like that that are extremely taxing.” DeKraker said he is living his goal in law enforcement.
“I’m kind of living a goal, because I’ve always wanted to be a major crime investigator...that’s kinda one of the reasons the FBI sent me over here was the potential for me to merge with the FBI and be able to work more closely with them. So, yes that’s still the goal – the goal is the FBI, but I’m already doing the work that I’d be doing for them. I get a lot of their cases...as like an agency-assist type of role. So doing the work, it’s just a matter of the title and the pay at this point,” he said.
DeKraker said he is looking forward to bringing a connection between the community and the police department.
“One of the main reasons I’m happy I’m here is I feel like now is a changing time for the community, with some new hires and the people...currently here at the police department, having that capability of doing more complex criminal investigations, more in-depth investigations...paired with having a new district attorney and a new district judge coming in the office, I think that all of those things combined have the opportunity to positively change the community and I think it’s going to happen. I think that building the faith within the community and in the department, while also just providing an example of there are things that are taken serious and they’re going to be properly dealt with, that’s important for me,” he said.
DeKraker said down the road he would maybe like to be chief someday, but for now, he is enjoying his time doing investigations.
“As far as down the road, I guess be a chief or something, but for now, I’m just enjoying the investigations,” he said. “My opinion, investigations is where you make the biggest difference. We get to help people the most...I feel like you have more of a connection with the people within this role and you have the ability to affect them much more as the investigator. If you report that your car was stolen, most of the time it’s an investigator that’s going to find it...so you have a greater ability to positively help and affect people in this role. So I’m pretty content with the work I do, it’s just a matter of agency.”