The door closed behind 31 years of service to the community where he was born and raised when Captain Keith Barker retired from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office last month.
Barker is taking some time off right now as he decides what the next chapter in is life will bring, but last week he took a few minutes to remember February 1992 through February 2023.
He talked about a career that he did not go looking for, but one that found him.
“I did not think when I was in high school I’d ever end up in law enforcement,” Barker said.
Then, when he was 20 years old, the factory where he was working closed.
He soon went to work in corrections at the old Polk County Jail in Benton. Bill Davis was sheriff at the time, one of only two sheriffs Barker would work for.
He spent his first year in corrections and as a dispatcher. The next 20 years, Barker would serve the county on patrol as a deputy sheriff.
It was during the last 10 of those 20 years that Barker would experience, “One of my favorite parts of my career,” he said. That was when he taught the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program in the schools.
Originally, the program was only offered in the elementary schools, but was expanded into the middle school as well.
Barker would serve as a detective for the sheriff’s office until soon after Steve Ross was elected sheriff.
Ross re-aligned the structure of the office and made Barker captain, overseeing the East Polk operations while still performing detective duties.
Asked why he picked Barker to lead the East side staff, Ross was quick to praise the Polk County native. “He knew the people (and) was well respected in the community. He had done a great job as a detective,” Ross said.
As Barker took on his new role, Ross talked about the right choice he made for the job.
“Everything I asked, he would do it,” Ross said of Barker. “Everything you asked him to do, he put everything he had into it. He’s a no-nonsense guy.”
The sheriff pointed to Barker’s work as a Field Training Officer. This involved so much more than just training personnel, the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) paperwork that went with it was important to their careers and salaries as well. It was “a very important job and he did it great,” Ross said.
The eight years Barker served as captain would be his final ones with the sheriff’s office.
Barker can remember countless changes over his 31 years.
There were the tools deputies had and have now. Probably the biggest difference is the addition of body cameras. In 1990, deputies were using pepper spray to control unruly suspects. Nowadays tasers are most often used to perform the same task.
Barker talked about how the types of crimes have changed and how drugs effect most of the crime that happens today. And the drugs themselves have changed. Marijuana was the most common drug around in 1990, and then methamphetamine came along, heroin made a comeback, and now fentanyl is seen more and more often. Marijuana, when it is found, is even much more potent than law enforcement dealt with 31 years ago.
But Barker believes one thing has not changed. “The only deterrent to crime is the fear of punishment,” he says. As he retires, that belief will never change.
“I’ve had a good career here that I’m proud of,” Barker said. “I feel fortunate that I was able to work and serve in my community.”
Law enforcement “is a hard profession,” but Barker is thankful “I’ve worked with some good people.” He leaves wishing the Polk County Sheriff’s Office the best.
Ross summed up his feelings, “I really hate losing him.”