After 39 years of law enforcement services, Harrisville Police Chief Maxwell Jackson, is ready for retirement. Harrisville City hosted an open house, which took place on Monday, June 24th from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. The public was invited to attend. Jackson’s family was also there greeting community members and guests. There were pictures, awards, uniforms, and a recognition letter displayed on the memorabilia table as you walked in. Many expressed how much they will miss Chief Jackson and wished him well with his retirement.
I had the chance to talk to Chief Jackson, briefly, and asked him what he plans to do with his time after retirement. Jackson would like to continue his services in the community and be a police chaplain. This will allow him to still interact with the citizens of Harrisville and offer spiritual guidance to grieving families who may lose loved ones due to unfavorable circumstances.
Jackson hopes to be a resource for grieving families and carefully explain to them the delicate process involving the body and how it will need to go to the medical examiner. He will also help answer questions and bring comfort to the families.
Years ago, Jackson said he got his start at the university in Logan: University Police. He then became the chief of Snow College. Later, he had a friend who was elected Garfield County Sheriff and he asked Jackson to take his place at Lake Powell working for the two counties: Garfield County and Kane County.
“Me and a park ranger had to deliver our 4th child in the boonies,” Jackson tells us, but then quickly followed it up with, “My wife has stuck with me through thick and thin.”
Having lost a close election in Kanab, Jackson had a couple friends move up here and they told him about the little town of Harrisville. At the time, Harrisville needed a police chief.
Jackson said, “I had been out of work for 2 weeks, so I came up and interviewed for the position and I got hired on as a detective.”
The mayor of Harrisville, then, was Bill Godfrey. He gave Jackson an idea of what the City budget was and wondered if they could keep their own police department based on the numbers.
Jackson said he told Mayor Godfrey, “Not only can we keep our own police department but if you make me chief, I’ll stay as the detective.”
Due to the fact that there wasn’t a lot of work to fulfill back then, this idea was doable. Mayor Godfrey decided to do a trial run for a year and make Jackson chief--24 years later he was still doing the job.
According to Jackson he said, “I have been able to work with 5 mayors in Harrisville and the people here are just awesome.”
We would like to wish Police Chief Max Jackson the very best in his retirement years and look forward to seeing him continue to give needed service in the community as a Police Chaplain.
