His workplace was located on Duane Street, near Broadway, in the same building where the law office of Aaron Burr was, and the two became close friends.
[2][3] In 1848, Dilks joined the police force under the administration of then Mayor Fernando Wood and appointed as an assistant captain.
In 1857, he won praise for his actions against rioting longshoremen, armed with hay-sticks, cart-rungs and clubs, whom he and his men fought in a four-day battle.
During the Draft Riot of 1863, Dilks led a force of two hundred officers into Second Avenue and recaptured the Union Steam Works, then being used as a headquarters and rallying point for rioters along East Side Manhattan, after fierce hand-to-hand fighting.
[1][2][3] Dilks spent his last years as "one of New York's best known citizens" and his 50th wedding anniversary was one of the largest celebrations in the city's history.
[1][2] A funeral service was held for him three days later at the Church of the Ascension, at Tenth Street and Fifth Avenue, and conducted by members of the Mutual Lodge, Palestine Encampment and Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
The funeral cortege was given a police escort, headed by Captain Frederick Martens of the Charles Street Station, from his home to the church.