After more than 30 years with the Dayton Police Department, the past 19 years as police chief, Kenny Walker retired suddenly Thursday morning.

Walker went to the Dayton Municipal Building and asked to file his retirement papers effective immediately. Walker offered no explanation for the sudden retirement, according to Dayton City Manager Frank Welch.

Walker will be compensated for some lost vacation time.

When asked Friday why he was retiring, Walker would only say, “I'm not leaving because I want to.”

Walker said he had no plans at the moment but did not rule out the possibility of taking another job.

Welch named Investigator Chris Sneed to serve as interim police chief. He said no process is yet in place for selecting a permanent replacement.

Of Walker's performance, Welch said, “Any time you have an employee with 30 years of experience, that's a real plus for the city.”

Sneed is a 17-year veteran of the police department and has served for the past five years as investigator, the department's number two position.

“I started in 1988, right out of the academy, as a dispatcher,” Sneed said Friday. “Since then, I've held every other job down here with the exception of chief. I'm excited about this opportunity.”

Sneed has worked as a patrol officer on every shift, as a shift sergeant, DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer, training officer and as investigator.

“I didn't expect Kenny's resignation like that,” Sneed added. “He's the only boss I've ever worked for.”

Sneed said he will continue to perform many of the investigator's duties and delegate others to shift sergeants. He said he does have some ideas he would like to implement but added that he wouldn't make any changes immediately.

“I'm very thankful to the city's leadership for this opportunity, and I appreciate the fact that they think I can run the department,” Sneed said. “We've got one of the best departments in the area with a lot of years of experience.”

Walker gave Sneed an informal recommendation for his old job.

“I think Chris will make a good chief,” Walker said. “He's more than capable of doing the job.”

John Carpenter can be reached at jcarpenter@xtn.net.