Chief Deputy Jeff Parker retires

By Ryan Whisner

Duty. Loyalty. Integrity. Self-discipline. Respect. Pride.

With service to his country and his community, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jeff Parker has exemplified all those traits throughout his career.

Parker retired from service at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 4.  

The transition has been an emotional journey for him. While retirement was likely coming in December for the 59-year-old law enforcement officer, the sudden shift after successfully applying and accepting a new job as director of security at the Milwaukee County Zoo has been daunting.

“It’s all I’ve done since I’ve been a kid and all of a sudden after 39 years in the military or being a cop, I’m not going to do it anymore, it makes me kind of wonder what it is going to be like?” Parker said. 

For now, the most important thing for him in retirement is giving back time to his family.

“After 32 years of doing this, your family really suffers,” Parker said. “They don’t a lot of times get to have the father and the husband that they deserve to have.” 

As a law enforcement officer, he noted that there are times where you’re sitting at home, but you’re not with them at home because the computer is in your lap and you’re remotely continuing work. With every promotion, it was harder to not bring work home because the job was a little bit tougher. 

“Retirement has to look a little bit different now because what I want to be able to do is go home now and be a better husband and a better father to my family,” he said. “Now it’s time to be with them.”

Even in the comfort of family or the zoo animals, he admits that he will miss the relationships at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office the most.

“It’s not like I’m not going to talk to these people, but I’ll miss my door being open and people walking in, sitting down and all of a sudden you’re just having a natural conversation about their family,” Parker said. “I’ll miss getting up from my desk and doing my walkabouts, where I would just go and visit through the hallways and stop in other people’s offices, sitting in their space and asking ‘Hey, what’s up? Those are the moments where you get to know your staff and you get to visit with them and see how they’re doing.”

Conversely, he admits that he will miss the adrenaline rush of the time of chaos. 

“I will miss those times where something exciting happens, being able to go out on a big call where the chief is needed to be out there on scene and you’re playing the role of public information officer and dealing with the media,” he said. “Those are exciting times. When you are in this position, you’re wired a certain way where you become kind of an adrenaline junkie. You enjoy those moments when it gets that way.”

Parker said being a law enforcement officer in Jefferson County, has been a wonderful experience because there’s benefits to being a law enforcement officer in a rural county and a rural environment. 

“We’re very fortunate to have a really good team of deputies here that are not only embraced by the community, but they embrace the community as well,” he said.

While the zoo is not likely to create much excitement, at least the majority of his new security staff at the zoo also happen to be retired law enforcement officers, so he will at least have an opportunity to still “hang out with cops.” 

“It’s kind of neat to know that if you’re feeling stressed, I’ll be able to get up from my desk, walk out the back door and be in this kind of relaxing environment where you share the sounds of birds and animals,” Parker said.

The foundation for his dedication and commitment to serve comes from his time in the military. 

Parker enlisted as a security specialist in the U.S. Air Force in February 1983. The recruiter told him he would be a law enforcement specialist, which had the role of providing on-base law enforcement duties. However, at the conclusion of basic training he was assigned as a security specialist, who guarded the planes and the nuclear missiles. 

He was stationed at the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which at the time was a nuclear missile base, housing the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile silos. He was later deployed overseas in the United Kingdom at Royal Air Force Greenham Common, a historical base from World War II that played a role in the D-Day invasion. 

“For my mission, they had turned RAF Greenham Common into a ground launch cruise missile base,” Parker said, noting that the base held 96 siloes during the Cold War era.

Today, portions of both Grand Forks and RAF Greenham Common are noted as historical sites or parkland. Parker noted that RAF Greenham Common is known by many, as part of it was utilized in the two of the latest Star Wars films.

Parker’s service in the U.S. Air Force concluded in April 1988. He had a brief hiatus between military and law enforcement, during which he served in the role of security guard at the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis. While there, he began applying for law enforcement positions and eventually applied at Jefferson County, noting that both he and his wife had roots in southeastern Wisconsin.

“The desire to continue on from the military to law enforcement, and just have that ability to be able to now serve my community was just kind of a natural progression for me,” he said.

Hired in Jefferson County in July 1990, Parker was the last deputy hired by the late Sheriff Keith Mueller. 

As with most newly hired deputies, he started his career within the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Jail Division and was promoted to jail sergeant in 1997. Simultaneously, he was also serving as a patrol officer for the City of Jefferson Police Department from 1991-1998.

In 2003, he was assigned as sergeant for the new Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Support Services Division and in January 2006 he was promoted to captain of the patrol division. 

Through a rotation of captain assignments, he returned to the jail as captain in January 2008. When the role of chief deputy opened due to a retirement he applied and was appointed in December 2008.

Upon becoming chief deputy, Parker was lauded for his efforts in maintaining public trust and his dedication to the community. In 2020, the Jefferson County Chiefs and Sheriff Association awarded him the President’s Award for his contributions and leadership efforts both in the community and with other law enforcement agencies within the county.

Parker’s legacy within the sheriff’s office comes from his work with leadership to ensure specialty units maintained technological advancements while ensuring fiscal responsibility with the taxpayer dollars.

He was directly involved, working with Jefferson County Board of Supervisors members and others in the acquisition of drone technology, the dive team’s equipment trailer, the SWAT team’s tactical van and armored military-style Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle and establishment of the K-9 program and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard.

For example, for the MRAP, which was acquired through the Department of Defense 1033 program, the county had to pay only $5,000 to get it delivered from Texas. The government price tag of $775,000 was still on the vehicle when it arrived.

“I thought, you know what, the taxpayers got a good deal out of this,” Parker said.

As for the K-9 program, Sheriff Paul Milbrath and his Labrador retriever, Redman, were the first K-9 unit in 1991. The department had no formal K-9 program until Parker submitted a proposal in 1997 to acquire multi-purpose German Shepherds for drug search, tracking, use of force and general search. Since then, the office consistently has had three dogs on staff at a time.

“Jefferson County, became known in the K-9 community, as a resource for other counties to come and receive training,” Parker said.

Similarly, the chief deputy helped provide resources for staff that re-established the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Honor Guard in 2006. 

“The honor guard not only memorializes our law enforcement officers that have died in the line of duty, but it also simply is that connection between law enforcement and giving back to the public that supports us each and every day,” Parker said.

He was also part of the team from the sheriff’s office that worked with the Lake Mills Conversation Club for acquisition of the property that now serves as the department’s training grounds.

“That property has paid huge dividends to the sheriff’s office in our ability to have continuous and ongoing training for our deputies,” Parker said. “That’s that is something that I’m really proud that we were able to accomplish.”

Not surprisingly, Parker’s impact on the law enforcement community extends far beyond the borders of Jefferson County. 

For 30 years he has taught classes at the Madison College police academy. His knowledge in defense and arrest tactics, use of force, social control and professional communication skills sets the new recruits on paths to become better officers.

“It’s truly a privilege being around the recruits, because as you become older in this career field, you have a tendency to become a little salty and each day that you step into that academy, and you’re exposed to the youthfulness, to the vibrance, to the energy, passion and commitment of those recruits, it reopens your eyes and it reminds you of that first day that you stepped into the building and it makes you reflect on why you became a law enforcement officer,” Parker said.

While the academy experience is among the highlights of his career, he has found that recruitment is one of the biggest changes he has seen in law enforcement over the past several years.

In 1990, when Parker originally applied for his role as a deputy, there was approximately 75 to 100 applicants taking the written exam in hopes of getting to the next interview for four or five open positions. Today, when the department has two or three openings, he may have 40 applications but only about 12 to 15 will show up to take the written exam.

“The career field has changed into something different than what it was, and they no longer just feel that it’s something they want to be part of,” Parker said. 

As his generation is reaching the age of retirement, the next generation is looking at the career field and questioning more and more if it is something they want to do as they watch the 6 o’clock news and see what’s going on in the world and their own community. 

“That’s why it does take a special person who has a certain level of commitment to be a law enforcement officer,” Parker said. “It always ends up being a coined phrase asking the question ‘Why do you want to be a police officer?’ and the answer ‘I want to make a difference in other people’s lives, and in the community that I work in’ comes up. It can be a coined phrase, but there’s a certain context to that that holds a truthfulness to it.”

One thing that remains the same before and since he applied, is that recruits still must have a strong level of desire, commitment and drive and be wired a certain way to be thick-skinned to the things that they’re going to be exposed and understand that the job is not for everyone.

For Parker himself, he knows it was the right job and he has few if any regrets.

“I’m looking forward to the years of just being with my wife and my kids and hopefully being more relaxed and calmer and not being the cop version of Jeff but just being Jeff,” he said.