JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Poplar Bluff Chief of Police Danny Whiteley was named the year's "Top Cop" Thursday night by the Missouri Police Chiefs Association.
Whiteley, who has served 17 years as the city's police chief, was presented with the Donald "Red" Loehr Chief of the Year Award by Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams, who is the association's past president.
Receiving the award "was very similar to my old rodeo days when I always wanted to win first at the Sikeston (Jaycee) Rodeo because that was what I considered my hometown rodeo in the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association)," Whiteley explained.
This award, he said, is "just as exciting because I'm representing my hometown of Poplar Bluff."
When Sheldon Lineback, executive director of the Missouri Police Chiefs Association, called in late November to tell Whiteley he was going to be recognize, "it caught me totally off guard," said Whiteley, who doesn't have a clue who nominated him for the award.
"Of course, I felt really proud and happy and immediately thought this wasn't just for me, but it was for the department as a whole because of the work all our officers do, and I just happen to be the chief," Whiteley said regarding his reaction to Lineback's call and subsequent email.
According to Whiteley, if "you're officers are not on top of their game, nobody looks good. I owe them a big thank you for doing the job they do and allowing me to get something like this on their behalf, too."
The award was presented during the association's annual awards banquet held at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City.
Whiteley estimates between 250 and 300 people attended the event in what he described as a full ballroom.
Whiteley said he prepared a short statement, and even though he did, "I was still nervous about being in front of that large of group of your peers, law enforcement brothers and sisters."
The banquet, Whiteley said, was held in conjunction with the association's year end annual conference, which included training and vendors.
Whiteley, who has served as the association's Region No. 9 regional vice president since 2012, estimated there were about 30 different vendors offering various law-enforcement-related and technology items.