Police Officer of the Month

STEVE BOVEN

Our police officer of the month is our Chief, Steve Boven. Steve is a Michigan native. When he first arrived in Kentucky he was a Michigan fan, solely,...however in 1993 when Michigan beat Kentucky in the semi-finals his friend, the late Bobby Bottoms, had him take an oath that from that point on, he would be a "Kentucky Boy."
Steve was born and raised on a dairy farm in Northern Michigan. He graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in Secondary Education, with a major in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. Upon graduation, he entered the Michigan State Police, where he spent nearly fifteen years.

The first eight and a half years Steve spent as a trooper. Three of those years were spent as a canine handler with a tracking dog. He spent two years living and working in downtown Detroit. The last six years Steve worked as a Detective Sergeant at a larger Detroit Metropolitan Post where he dealt with general crimes, involving burglaries, robberies, frauds, rapes and murders.

In 1984 Steve accepted a job offer as a financial investigator with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM). For six years he investigated fraudulent activity against BCBSM by subscribers, providers and others. His major concentration was in the mental health field.

A call to enter the ministry led Steve and his family to Wilmore in 1990. His intention was to attend Asbury Theological Seminary (ATS) full time and work somewhere part time. Just the opposite occurred. We hired Steve in October of that year as a patrolman with the Wilmore Police Department (WPD). Roger Swallows, our late chief, and I asked Steve if he would teach the D.A.R.E. program at the Wilmore Elementary School. He accepted and has been teaching D.A.R.E. for eight years. In 1994 Steve was nominated by the WES to be the State D.A.R.E. officer of the year. In January 1995 I appointed Steve as our police chief. Steve completed his seminary studies and graduated with honors at ATS this past May.

In his career Steve has received several awards. In the MSP he received three Meritorious Service Awards, a Life Saving Award, a Unit Citation for a murder investigation, as well as others. Twice he received Police Officer of the Year awards.

The first of the three Meritorious Awards involved the apprehension of an armed robbery suspect in downtown Detroit. The second involved arrests of several members and the ring leader of a check cashing ring in the Greater Detroit Metro area. This investigation took more than a year to complete and was recognized as the largest such ring in the State of Michigan. The last involved a two-year investigation resulting in multiple arrests of health care professionals defrauding BCBSM in excess of 3 million dollars.

The life saving award was for finding a 62 year old man in a swamp in January in sub-zero temperature. While at BCBSM Steve received numerous monthly awards. He received a semi-annual award for a fraud investigation resulting in felony arrests and the recovery of several hundred thousand dollars. This award is given out to only eight persons corporate-wide.

He was given the Integrity Award by the Office of Inspector General at the federal agency of Health and Human Services for his support and involvement in investigations of Medicare fraud. While here at the WPD Steve was awarded with the Jessamine County Police Officer of the Year in 1995. He has been recognized for his involvement with the D.A.R.E. program by the Wilmore Elementary PTO, a group of citizen supporters and the City.
Steve and his wife Sandy have three daughters, Stephanie, Anne and Joy.
--Mayor Harold Rainwater