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125 years ... and counting: Fenwick, Helmer, Wallace still serving Putnam County, even in retirement
With 125 years of police work between them, retired Putnam County Sheriff’s Department deputies Steve Fenwick, Tom Helmer and Danny Wallace know what it means to serve the community.
Retirement on the other hand? It’s unclear if any of the men know what it means.
Even though all three retired as PCSD merit deputies in 2018, they all still continue to serve the citizens of Putnam County in one form or another.
For Wallace, it’s as an elected member of the Putnam County Council, a role he assumed in January.
For Fenwick and Helmer, their service as sworn officers continues. Fenwick works as bailiff for Putnam Superior Court, while Helmer generally mans the first-floor security post at the Putnam County Courthouse.
Helmer also remains the director of the Putnam County Emergency Management Agency, a role in which he served for his last several years as a merit deputy.
Even if retirement doesn’t exactly have any of them sitting in rocking chairs, Sheriff Scott Stockton took the time to honor their years of service with a ceremony in the Putnam Superior Courtroom on Tuesday afternoon, noting how long each man had served in various law enforcement capacities.
“Everybody knows the gentlemen sitting up here,” Stockton said. “Collectively they served this county for 125 years.”
Wallace’s law enforcement career began in 1973, when he started out as a military police officer in the U.S. Air Force.
That service continued with other stops in Indiana and Clay County, Tenn., before Wallace joined the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department as a merit deputy.
Wallace ultimately rose to the rank of captain before he retired in April 2018.
Fenwick’s law enforcement journey began in 1981, and over the years he split time between serving as a merit deputy and a jail officer, even serving as jail commander for several years.
In 2008, he was appointed Putnam County Sheriff, a post to which he was re-elected by the voters in 2010.
Fenwick remained sheriff through 2014 and returned to the road in 2015. Stockton praised Fenwick’s helpfulness and graciousness in the transition from his own administration to Stockton’s.
Fenwick retired from the merit deputy ranks as a captain in December 2018.
Helmer began his law enforcement career in the late 1970s as a special motorcycle officer in Marion County. However, before coming to the sheriff’s department, he worked for PSI Energy in Plainfield.
“He left a really good job in Plainfield to serve the people of this county,” Stockton noted. “He really is dedicated to the community.”
Like Fenwick, Helmer also spent time as the county’s top law enforcement officer, serving as sheriff from 1999 through 2002.
He was also twice chief deputy, serving under both Sheriff Richard Lyon and Sheriff Fenwick.
Helmer retired from the merit ranks as a captain in June 2018.
In honor of their years of service, Stockton presented each man with a sheriff’s department identification card and badge, with each man noted as a retired captain.
They were also presented with plaques noting the oath of office that they took:
I do solemnly swear to promote, protect and defend the Constitution and laws of the United State of America and the Constitution and laws of the State of Indiana against all enemies, foreign or domestic, and that I will faithfully and justly discharge the law enforcement duties entrusted to me in a manner that promotes honor, service and loyalty in the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, according to the best of my ability, so help me God.
“Each one of these guys took this oath and, collectively for 125 years, they lived it every day,” Stockton said.