Stephen E. Kenney

Stephen E. Kenney, detective sergeant with DeKalb County Police department passed away at home in Doraville on Monday morning, Sept. 8. Born in Milwaukee, Wis. on Sept. 7, 1972, Stephen showed a decided interest in art, sports competition and play acting the law and order figure even before entering grade school, matching an active child’s imagination for apprehending the imaginary bad guys. He was soon playing high school football, running track and competing in weightlifting competitions after the family moved to Connecticut where he earned varsity letters in those sports at Fairfield, H.S. About this time, he also developed a passion for playing guitar, being partial to ballads sung by Bob Dylan and Neil Young. This became a life-long side interest for him.

Stephen graduated from Providence College in 1994 earning a B.A. degree in sociology. He headed south after graduation joining his parents who had moved to the Atlanta area in connection with his father’s employment at the recently relocated UPS headquarters there. He worked as a counselor in adolescent treatment facilities in his initial years in the Atlanta area. His early interest in playing out childhood detective dreams of chasing down would-be-criminals came to real life practicality when he joined the DeKalb County police force as a patrolman in 1998. He used his physical fitness staying power to run down and overpower fleeing suspects. Stephen had been rated near the top of his training class in physical conditioning at the ruggedly conducted police academy program there. He didn’t disappoint his promise to scale the highest fences and run his fastest sidewalk mile to put the cuffs on surprised and depleted lawbreakers overtaken in the desperate attempt to run and hide.

His reputation for straightforward and impassioned fairness preceded him when his squad car was t-boned and rolled at a busy intersection by a careless motorist speeding through a red light while carrying on a telephone conversation on his cell phone. Stephen’s vehicle fortuitously landed in a relatively safe, upright position. The luck of the draw gave Mr. Kenney the chance to climb ever so slowly out of his badly damaged cruiser with his ticket book in hand and amble towards the blinking, anxiety ridden motorist. His first instinct was to check the condition of the motorist who was shaken but otherwise okay. Civility in dealing with the public was an honored ideal with Mr. Kenney even when circumstances were at odds with his personal safety. Stephen was whisked off to the hospital for an exam and returned to duty the next day.

Mr. Kenney’s 16-year career with DeKalb County Police featured assignments in the narcotics/vice division as a plain clothes detective and supervisory positions in major felony (homicide and armed robbery) and his most recent position as a supervisor of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID), Tucker Precinct. He and his former staff of homicide investigators were occasionally televised for their parts in bringing murder cases to justice in the TV series, “First Forty Eight Hours.” He earned a reputation for being fair and honest in his work as a supervisor, attributes greatly admired by his peers.

Stephen Kenney is survived by his parents, Robert and Kathleen, brothers, Michael PhD, Dan and his wife Mary plus nieces Bethany and Rachel who loved him dearly. Visitation will be held on Friday, Sept. 12 at H.M. Patterson Canton Hill Funeral Home in Marietta from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. A funeral mass will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. at Holy Family Church in Marietta with a reception to follow. Memorials may be made in lieu of flowers to Cop to Cop at ubhc.rutgers.edu/cop2cop. Online condolences may be made at hmpattersoncantonhill.com.