Difference between revisions of "Steve Prator"

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Stephen Wayne Prator, Sr., known as Steve Prator (born September 25, 1951),^[2] of Shreveport is the first Republican since Reconstruction to serve as sheriff of Caddo Parish in far northwestern Louisiana.

Background

The son of Sheldon (or Shelton) Perry Prator (1926–2001) and Margie Prator, Stephen Prator was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, but moved to Caddo Parish when he was seven years of age. His paternal roots are in Cass County in east Texas. His grandparents were Joseph Bell Prator (1893–1962) and the former Erne Ruth Simpson (1896–1990). He has a brother, David Perry Prator of Kingwood, Texas. He is married to the former Carolyn Craig. His children are Stephen Prator, Jr., Jon Joseph Prator, and Tracey Prator Cascio.^[3] He was born in Clarksville in Montgomery County in northern Tennessee.^[4]

Prator received a bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University in the capital city of Baton Rouge.^[5] He also graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Executive Institute in Quantico, Virginia. He attended basic police academy at LSU in Baton Rouge.^[6]

Career

In 1973, Prator became a Shreveport police officer. In 1990, Hazel Beard, Steve Prator's aunt and the first of only two Republican mayors of Shreveport since Reconstruction, named Prator chief of police, an appointive position.^[7] In 1999, he stepped down as police chief to run for sheriff, when the incumbent Donald Edgar "Don" Hathaway, Sr., did not seek a sixth four-year in office. Prator was elected to the first of his thus far four terms in that position. In that first campaign, Prator led with 37,739 votes (70.5 percent), compared to 13,858 (25.9 percent) for the Democrat Marshall W. Nelson, and 1,921 votes (3.6 percent) for the No-Party candidate, Robert N. Creamer.^[8] Creamer again ran against Prator in 2003.^[9]

Prator's term began on July 1, 2000, when Don Hathaway retired after twenty years as sheriff. Upon taking office, Prator streamlined certain operations and saved $3 million in expenses.^[10] Prator introduced "community-oriented policing" and developed a network of volunteer programs. He opened the first centers to deal with juvenile truancy, including a temporary holding facility.^[6] He supported the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in public schools, which Hathaway had first instituted in Shreveport.^[11] Prator established bicycle patrols, neighborhood watch teams, and a drug interdiction unit. He developed a work-release program for inmates at the Caddo Correctional Center.^[6]

Prator is a member of the Louisiana Sheriff's Association, Cops for Christ, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.^[6] He was named in 2008, along with his then colleague, Larry Callaway Deen, former sheriff of Bossier Parish, to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice, a multi-agency program.^[12]Prator is active in the Louisiana State Fair Board, the LSUS Foundation, and the Norwela Council of the Boy Scouts of America.^[4]

Prator was instrumental in the establishment of "Safety Town" located between Walker Road and Jewella Avenue near the South Park Summer Grove Baptist Church. "Safety Town" teaches children how to avoid danger and how to protect their own safety. Robert Madison "Bob" Griffin of KTBS-TV worked with Prator to promote the project.^[13][14] In 2014, Prator launched a program to train children between eight and twelve years of age in gun safety. The course is taught at a gun safety camp sponsored by the sheriff's department.^[15]

In the election held on October 22, 2011, Prator defeated the Democratic candidate, Craig Smith, 37,799 (78.7 percent) to 10,216 (21.3 percent). Robert Creamer did not file for the position though he had indicated that he had planned to do so.^[16]

On July 1, 2014, Prator took on the role of director of the Caddo Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, a state agency responsible for disaster and emergency preparedness and response efforts. Previously Caddo and Bossier parishes had operated a mutual Homeland Security office, but Bossier Parish elected to establish its own facility. The sheriff's office will fund the Homeland Security office for Caddo Parish.^[17]

Prator handily won a fifth term as sheriff in the primary election held on October 24, 2015. He defeated the Democrat Eric Hatfield, 37,112 votes (73.2 percent) to 13,561 (26.8 percent).^[18]

In 2017, Sheriff Prator opposed Governor John Bel Edwards's planned release of state prisoners, a move also endorsed by the Louisiana District Attorneys Association as well as bipartisan members of the legislature. Practor said the release would increase violent crime in Caddo Parish. "I wasn't elected to rehabilitate people. There needs to be more done before this law takes effect," Prator said. The New York Times accused the sheriff of racism because he also described certain state prisoners as "bad" and those in parish prisons as "good" because they often perform trusty-type roles. In addition to the parish prisoners, the Caddo Parish Correctional Center houses inmates for the Louisiana Department of Corrections.^[19]

On May 16, 2018, Prator presided over a public meeting to seek consensus on how to curb the rising crime rate in Shreveport. "We've got a lot of crime here. We've got a lot of violence here. And just because the numbers might be up or down a little bit, if you put them all together, this is a dangerous place, at times," Prator said.^[20]

References