Police chief leaves position with increased knowledge

WILLIAMSBURG — Justin Parsons will step down from his position of Williamsburg police chief this month, but the experience has given him knowledge he’ll use in his future law enforcement pursuits.

“The people of Williamsburg have been so good to me,” said Parsons last week. He’s leaving the position with no ill will, he said.

“I think that doing this position has been very, very good,” Parsons said. It’s helped him understand nuances of running an agency, from personnel to budgets and how other departments and economic development fit into the government structure.

“I loved learning all the things that I never would have learned,” Parsons said.

Law enforcement agencies continue to face challenges, said Parsons.

“Public safety is the first thing we do in government,” said Parsons, but when budget cuts require cutting services, it’s the first to go.

“We did go from seven to six [officers]” in Williamsburg, said Parsons. Juggling time off is difficult, he said, especially when an officer wants a day off at the same time another is gone for training.

These experiences have given Parsons knowledge he would have if he’d not been assistant police chief and police chief in Williamsburg for seven years.

“Each community has its own idea of what public safety is,” said Parsons.

“I think [serving as police chief has] given me some insights into what the town needs,” said Parsons. “I’ve really learned some of the nuances. It’s been really eye-opening.

Parsons will probably miss working with Williamsburg schools most, he said.

Though Williamsburg doesn’t have an official school resource officer, the police department has an office at the school, and Parsons does paperwork there.

It’s good to have someone in public safety in the building, Parsons said. And his presence is unscheduled, so no one knows when he’ll be there or for how long. Sometimes he’s there only 30-40 minutes, sometimes a couple of hours.

Parsons has taught high school and Kirkwood Community College students about the fourth and fifth amendments. He speaks to government classes, talks about how to interact with law enforcement, what officers do and how they have to behave to stay within the law.

“It helps that I have kids in the school,” Parsons said. He remembered his daughter stopping by his office and her friends standing in the doorway “looking at Mae’s dad.”

Sometimes Parsons wore his uniform, but other times he dressed more like a teacher, so students know him both ways and understand that he’s a law enforcement officer but he’s also a person, Parsons said.

Superintendent Chad Garber and all of the building leaders in both the public schools and Lutheran Interparish School have been excellent partners, said Parsons.

Training as a school resource officer has given Parsons an understanding of the school’s role in the community and the public safety role, which in many communities are at odds, he said.

Through the Handle with Care program, officers let schools know when a student may need extra consideration because of a traumatic experience outside school, said Parsons.

“We have found cooperation that I feel has only helped the community grow closer. I hear from parents on a regular basis that their students feel better at school knowing I spend a portion of most days there.

Parsons’ attachment to the school is logical considering that he initially wanted to be a teacher. He went to school in Miles City, Montana and had a friend whose father was chief of police. “I would ride with them,” Parsons said.

When he came home during spring break, he rode with Greg Welsh and decided to move back to Iowa County and become a reserve officer with Williamsburg PD.

Parsons served with the WPD seven years, with the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office 13 years, became assistant police chief in Williamsburg 2018 and took the position of police chief in 2021.

“My philosophy of law enforcement is definitely more peace keeper than enforcement,” Parsons said.

Parsons grew up on the English River on a farm between Parnell and North English. “My kids are the fifth generation to grow up in my house,” he said.

”I’ve always been a rural kid,” said Parson, and he’s looking forward to getting beyond Williamsburg in his new role as a deputy for the Iowa County Sheriff’s Department.

“The County has always kind of been the right size for me,” said Parsons.

Williamsburg police will be under the direction of Assistant Chief Jason Mocal until a new police chief is hired, but whoever is in charge will have to juggle budget cuts with the needs of the community, said Parsons.

People expect officers to have tasers — which cost $1,500 each. Police vehicles have to be outfitted with equipment that costs about $20,000 per car, and that doesn’t count the video cameras and the cost of the cars themselves.

Bodycams and storage units for them cost the city about $9,000.

These are things the community expects its officers to have and things the officers expect, Parsons said. “It’s important to me that people are taken care of.”

Recruitment and retention of officers will continue to be a challenge, said Parsons. Small departments can’t compete with larger ones in pay or in opportunities for advancement and special assignments.

“We are going to require some innovative ideas throughout local governments to operate.”

During his time in Williamsburg, Parsons helped establish the Iowa County mental health liaison program that has taken some of the burdens of mental health confrontations off families by having a professional deploy with officers to help people in crisis.

The liaison program has built rapport with CommUnity, which runs the mobile crisis service in Iowa County, and has given people encountering police access to resources they might not otherwise know about, Parsons said.

Parsons has worked with Emergency Management Director Josh Humphrey and Iowa County Sheriff Rob Rotter to conduct ALICE active school training in schools throughout the county and hopes to continue to work with schools in the county in his new position as sheriff’s deputy.