“His entire career was devoted to New York City, its police officers and fighting crime and protecting all the people we serve. He wanted to make our great city a better place for all and he certainly did exactly that, every day.”
City Police Commissioner Jim O’Neill spoke about Deputy Chief Steven Silks last week in a reverential tone. Those reassuring words should have been said at a much later date. Instead, O’Neill, himself a career cop, was forced to eulogize the decorated 38-year veteran on Thursday, a day after Silks took his own life on Burns St. near 69th Avenue in Forest Hills—a pebble’s skip from the 112th Precinct stationhouse he called home as the executive officer of Patrol Borough Queens North.
Silks shot himself inside his NYPD-issued vehicle a month before his 63rd birthday—the age at which cops are obligated to retire from the department.
According to his family, Steve Silks was born on July 10, 1956 in the Bronx to John and Harriet Silks. He attended PS 26, JHS 80 and Columbus High School. He then went on to Stony Brook University where he was a member of the Row team. In his early years, Steve was a member of Little League and a Boy Scout who always dreamed of making a difference in the world. He was also an entrepreneur from an early age and when he was only 13 years old, he started his own window washing business. He was also an avid fan of the Yankees but later on became a supporter of the Mets during his tenure working in Queens. Steve was a caring, thoughtful, fastidious, benevolent, and courageous person who always thought of others first. In September 1980, Steve fulfilled his dream of making a difference and began his illustrious 39-year career with the New York City Police Department. He began working in the 52nd Precinct before being promoted to sergeant in February 1987; lieutenant in June 1989; captain in October 1992; deputy inspector in December 1996; inspector in November 2001 and deputy chief in December 2006. Throughout his career he served in the 41st, 43rd, 44th, 47th, 48th, 49th, and 52nd Precincts as well as Bronx Task Force, Bronx Narcotics, The Police Academy, Firearms and Tactics Section, Office of the Chief of Patrol, Patrol Boroughs Brooklyn North, Queens South and Queens North. He was also responsible for implementing heavy weapons training in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Most importantly, Steve will be remembered as a true cop’s cop who always cared for those who had worked with him.
Steve’s passions and hobbies are too numerous to list and he experienced more in his lifetime than most people could ever imagine. He was an avid biker, gun collector, hunter, car enthusiast, marathoner, rower, mountain climber, member of The Rockaway Polar Bear Club and a true aficionado of fine cuisine. Steve possessed an incredible knowledge on a plethora of topics which he was able to recall without fail. He was also the life of the party and knew just about every celebrity you could think of. Steve had a seemingly endless list of friends and could always find someone the help they needed by making a simple phone call. Steve climbed nearly every bridge in New York City, rode a bicycle from Coast to Coast, climbed Mt. Everest, worked on a NASCAR pit crew, was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom and the NYPD Holy Name Society Man of the Year Awards, won the 1981 Maccabiah games in pairs and even was a stand in guest at the Academy Awards. Steve really was The Most Interesting Man in The World.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that a donation be made to St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital in Bayside in Silks’s Honor.
“It’s imperative that cops — NYPD & every PD — discuss mental health. We can’t sit idly by & just pray suicides don’t happen again. To save lives, we must take action now,” O’Neill added. “Seeking help is never a sign of weakness. In fact, it’s a sign of great strength.”
