Above Photo: Illinois State Police Sergeant Tamara Girten talks about becoming the first female Illinois State Police Officer of the year during an interview at CAribou Coffee in Tinley Park, Illinois, Monday, October, 3, 2011. She is an expert on child abuse.Nevaeh Hunt was just 3 months old when she died of head trauma.
The Park Forest baby, whose name spelled backward is heaven, was non-responsive when police and fire personnel arrived at her home on the evening of July 2, 2010. Though she was revived and taken to St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights and later to St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead about 11 p.m. July 3.
Park Forest police called Sgt. Tamara Girten, a member of the Illinois State Police Child Victimization Unit, for help in investigating the case.
A week later, Nevaeh’s father Kejuan Hunt was charged with first-degree murder.
That case, and countless others, exemplify Girten’s expertise in investigating crimes against children.
Her hard work and dedication led to her being named Illinois State Police Officer of the Year, the first such female officer in the force’s 89-year history. She was selected from more than 30 nominees and was honored in July with a medal and a new covert squad car.
“I’m truly very humbled by it,” she said. “I was nominated with a lot of excellent candidates. It’s a great feeling.”
Girten, 46, was cited for outstanding work, valor, overall productivity, civic contributions and professional appearance and demeanor.
To sum it up: she’s extremely passionate about her work.
Girten said nothing tears at her heart like an injured child.
In her 21 years on the force, the Richards High School graduate has seen it all — head trauma, starvation, burns.
“No baby or child deserves to be injured,” Girten said.
So she has devoted her career to bringing justice to those who bring harm to society’s most defenseless members.
She is frequently called in to assist local police departments in such cases.
Her work has earned her the respect of her peers.
Det. Michael Baugh, watch commander with the Park Forest department, said Girten’s skillfulness helped in the investigation of Hunt.
“Her medical expertise and past experience assisted us in the line of questioning and in our investigative efforts,” he said.
And that is the gratification that comes from working cases that can be emotionally wrenching.
“I get that all the time, ‘How do you do it?’” she said. “At first I thought the same thing but as the years went by I became so passionate about it because children can’t defend themselves.
“Sometimes you have to put your personal feelings aside and focus on the work,” she said.
She believes her success stems from being well-versed in medical terminology and adept at interviewing witnesses and suspects, as well as doctors, paramedics and social workers. That information helps her to establish a timeline, which is crucial in child injury cases, she said.
Girten grew up in Oak Lawn. She was a member of the track and basketball teams at Richards and says she would have been on the golf team if the school had one back in the early ’80s.
While attending Moraine Valley Community College, she realized her calling was law enforcement.
After graduating from the University of Illinois at Chicago, she attended the state police academy and began her career working patrol. She has been with the CVU for 13 years.
She influenced her brother, Steve Sutko, to follow in her footsteps. He is a sergeant with the Palos Hills Police Department.
Girten also is a member of the Cook County Child Death Review Team, a partnership among several agencies and professionals that work as advocates for children. She also volunteers reviewing cases and discussing prevention strategies to reduce child injury and death.
She was instrumental in the formation of the new Child Death Investigation Task Force in Southern Illinois. In addition, she is president of the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Southwest Cook County Advisory Board.
“It’s great to be recognized,” she said. “But I do this because I want to make sure people who commit these crimes are held responsible.”
