LYNN HAVEN — Assistant Police Chief Dennis Kiah was the type of officer people would thank for changing their lives after they’d been arrested by him and served their time, according to fellow officers.
Kiah, 59, died Saturday at Covenant Hospice after retiring as Lynn Haven’s assistant police chief and more than 34 years of law enforcement service in Bay County. Not only a law enforcement officer, he was particularly passionate about helping abused or mistreated children. Friends and family members remembered him Monday as a dedicated, “gruff but compassionate” officer who deeply cared about the community in which he was raised.
Lynn Haven Police Department Sgt. Tom Willoughby, a colleague and friend since joining the Springfield Police Department with Kiah in the ’70s, said Kiah over his illustrious career cultivated an understanding for victims, suspects and anybody else involved in a police call to the point that some of the people he arrested — that served time in prison — thanked him for turning their life around.
“He could do his job and treat you like a human,” Willoughby said. “He always treated people the way they wanted to be treated. And at the end of the day, even the people he arrested respected him as a professional.”
Kiah was born in Springfield and spent the majority of his life working for local law enforcement agencies.
“He lived and breathed law enforcement,” said his wife, Renee Kiah. “He was there 24-7 for officers calling to seek advice or guidance.”
Kiah eventually left the Springfield Police Department and worked as a narcotics officer for the Bay County Sheriff’s Office as “one of the best undercover officers we’ve ever had,” Sheriff Frank McKeithen said Monday. An outspoken man with a gruff but compassionate veneer, Kiah was an exceptional fit for the job.
“Dennis was an avid motorcyclist and he loved Harley-Davidson’s,” McKeithen said. “He kind of just fit in with these situations we had in the ’80s. He could walk the walk and talk the talk.”
Those times of being entrenched in criminal circles could have helped further shape his approach to people accused of crimes, McKeithen added.
“All the people who get arrested aren’t bad people,” he said. “And he could always see the good in people.”
Eventually, Kiah left the BCSO and accepted the position of assistant police chief for LHPD for 18 years. He continued to assist in high-profile cases like murders and child abuse. His love for people and law enforcement drove him to sit as a board member for the Children’s Advocacy Center, where he focused on helping children get through traumatic experiences.
It was one of the many ways he expressed his love of public service for the community, according to April Bitler, his daughter
“I think everything he learned in his progress made him want to make other people better,” Bitler said. “He was loved by everyone he met. That was just who he was.”
A service celebrating Kiah’s life will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Kent-Forest Lawn Funeral Home, 2403 Harrison Ave. Family members requested memorial donations be made to Covenant Hospice.