Dave Waller, a retired detective and Polk County Toys for Tots leader, dies of cancer at 67

More than three decades after leaving the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Dave Waller was a regular visitor.

Several months ago, Waller encountered Sheriff Grady Judd, his former colleague, in a hallway at the Sheriff’s Office headquarters. Waller, who had instituted roundups of street-level drug sellers during his time with the agency, pitched Judd on the idea of organizing another operation.

“Here he is retired, a reserve deputy and volunteering with Toys for Tots, and he’s still thinking of strategies of how to put dopers in jail,” Judd said.

To the sadness of Judd and other former colleagues, it turned out Waller didn’t have much time remaining. He was soon diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and died Nov. 19 at age 67.

“He was the epitome of a professional law enforcement officer and was the best narcotics detective I’ve ever been around in my life,” Judd said. “He was truly a leader in every sense of the word. He was committed to arresting those that would sell and traffic narcotics. He was just exceptional in every sense of the word.”

Waller, who retired from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in 2012, gained national attention in retirement as volunteer leader of the local Toys for Tots program.

Tommy Ray, a former colleague in the Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said Waller died from butterfly glioblastoma, a rare brain tumor for which there is no effective treatment.

“It’s a tragic loss,” Ray said by phone Tuesday. “It doesn't even seem real. But Dave definitely was one of a kind.”

Judd said Waller lost consciousness at a Toys for Tots fundraiser and was taken to a hospital. The aggressive cancer claimed him within weeks, the sheriff said.

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'Could not have a better friend'

Waller, known to friends as “Wally,” began his career with the Lake Wales Police Department in 1976 and later spent eight years with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, where he specialized in narcotics operations and often worked undercover. Judd, just a captain when Waller joined the department, recalled seeing Waller carrying a boombox playing music from the 1980s TV show “Miami Vice” before or after carrying out an operation.

“He was not only a great law-enforcement officer, he was fun to work with,” Judd said. “He was patient and could teach the up-and-coming narcotics detectives how do the job and do it right. If Dave Waller was on your investigative team, you could not have a better friend on your investigative team.”

Judd said Waller chose to leave the agency amid the chaotic reign of Sheriff Dan Daniels, who resigned under pressure in 1987. Ray left at the same time, and he and Waller were roommates at the FDLE academy in Tallahassee before receiving assignments from the state agency.

Waller, a towering man, specialized in investigating drug crimes, Ray said, concentrating on methamphetamine cases when that drug was gaining prominence in Polk County. Waller collaborated with the Drug Enforcement Agency on many cases in South Florida, Ray said.

Waller also contributed to investigating the death of Haines City Police Officer Christopher Horner in 1998. A jury convicted Charles Andrew Fowler in 2008 of fatally shooting Horner.

“He had a happy-go-lucky manner and a calming effect,” Ray said. “You had to talk to the informants and people that he wanted to get information from. And so he was always upbeat. It was always a pleasure to work with him. He was a cop’s cop.”

Waller, who rose to become supervisor of the agency’s Lakeland office, was attentive to the emotional states of his colleagues in law enforcement, Ray said.

“If he’d get frustrated or every once in a while we’d get frustrated, he’d say, ‘OK, let's go,’” Ray recalled. “And I’d say, ‘Where are we going?’ And he’d say, ‘We're going to get rid of some of this stress.’ Next thing I knew, we're pulling up in front of a bowling alley. That’s just the kind of off-the-wall, fun things he was always coming up with.”

Waller also served as president of the Polk County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 46 in Lakeland, Ray said. Judd said he swore Waller in as a reserve deputy following his retirement from FDLE.

Even during his time in law enforcement, Waller pursued an entrepreneurial bent, running a lawn service, Grass Busters, when he worked for the Sheriff’s Office. After retiring from FDLE in 2012, Waller operated a paving business, sold houses, played golf and traveled, his family wrote in an obituary.

Waller also collected classic cars, Ray said, among them a red Cadillac convertible.

Taking over Toys for Tots

A few years after his retirement, Waller learned from a newspaper article that Polk County’s Toys for Tots operation was at risk of folding after its two leaders stepped down for health reasons. Waller called Sam McGuirt, who had recently retired from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, and said he would volunteer with the program if she did, Waller told The Ledger for an article last year.

After a year as a volunteer, Waller became coordinator of the operation, officially known as U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots. The local program collects donations of toys throughout the year, storing them in a warehouse, and distributes them during the Christmas season to children from low-income families.

Waller, a Lakeland resident, proved so effective that in 2021 the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation in Virginia named him coordinator of the year for civilian volunteer campaigns and listed the Polk County organization as the top campaign.

The Polk County campaign distributed about 58,000 toys to nearly 15,000 children in 2020 and raised more than $94,000 in cash donations, double the previous year’s total.

“But the numbers are only part of that story,” David Cooper, vice president of operations for the national organization, told The Ledger last year. “Really, it’s the spirit of the Marine Corps and the campaign itself in helping children, kind of looking at ways of doing things differently and better, which I think Mr. Waller definitely did.”

Waller deflected credit in an interview last year.

“The overall success of the program is due to the unpaid volunteers, the community support, through individuals and businesses,” he said. “I’m excited for Polk County to receive this award. It’s a Polk County award for all of those citizens, businesses, groups and organizations that make this program what it is.”

Angela Davis is serving as interim coordinator for the program following Waller’s death.

Waller is survived by his wife, Kim; his daughter, Laura Webster; and two grandchildren. A service will be held Dec. 16 at 10 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Lakeland, followed by a celebration of life at Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 46.

The family asks that mourners bring a new, unwrapped toy to the church or donate to the Polk County Toys for Tots chapter — polkcounty.fl@toysfortots.org.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Retired detective, Polk County Toys for Tots leader Dave Waller dies