Dilkon police captain takes position in Fort McDowell

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Diné Bureau

Dilkon Police Capt. Jesse Delmar recently was named as police chief of Ft. McDowell Police Department. His last day with the DPD is Friday. [Submitted Photo]

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation's loss is Fort McDowell's gain.

Dilkon Police District's captain, Jesse Delmar, 44, will soon be leaving for his new position as Fort McDowell's Chief of Police near Phoenix.

"This job gave me a lot of very, very positive experiences," Delmar said.

His nearly 27-year career with the Navajo Nation Police Department began in 1979 soon after Delmar was graduated from Monument Valley High School in Kayenta.

He started out as a dispatcher and worked his way towards becoming a police officer while garnering a degree from Northern Arizona University in criminal justice and psychology.

A native of Navajo Mountain, Delmar said his most interesting case was in 1987, when two fellow officers were killed.

His four-month investigation revealed that the two officers responded to a bonfire and came across a bunch of kids. The kids took down one officer and killed him. The second officer met the same fate.

"It was very, very touching to me personally," Delmar said.

Arrests in the murders were made after six months.

Delmar said his expertise is in violent crime investigations.

"Everybody did a lot for me locally," he said.

And it paid off.

Delmar, on the recommendations of local federal agents, went to the Federal Bureau of Investigations Academy in 1994.

In 2002, Delmar became the first Native American to be accepted into the FBI's Fellowship Program.

He spent 10 months in Washington D.C. inspecting community policing programs and policy compliance.

The experience, he said, helped him better understand the grant-writing process and can help increase his chances of landing more federal grant money for his department.

In 1991, Delmar joined Dilkon's police department and has been there since.

Dilkon, he said, was the smallest police district spanning 5,400 square miles.

And, he said, it is the hardest-working district,as there are no detention or court facilities there.

"(I'll miss) the people I work with," Delmar said. "They are really hard-working."

His wife, he said, was his motivation to move.

Marjorie Delmar works as a nurse at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center and just completed her master's degree from Northern Arizona University.

A farewell dinner for Dilkon's captain will be held on Friday, July 22.