Less than 10 minutes into an interview about his retirement, Oldham County Sheriff Steve Sparrow received a visitor.
The man, a La Grange resident named Ken, thanked Sparrow for his many years of service as Sheriff—a tenure spanning six-terms and 24 years. In January, Sparrow cedes the office to Sheriff-Elect Tim Wakefield.
Ken went on to thank Sparrow for swift action that stopped the bullying of his daughter many moons ago.
Sparrow’s grown accustomed to such unprompted “thank-you’s” throughout his long law enforcement career, and not always from people on the right side of the law.
Kudos even comes from the very people he locked up.
Dotty, his wife of 24-years, attests to that. Present for the interview, she remembered an early date before their marriage. Waiting at a red light, the couple noticed the driver stopped ahead repeatedly looking back at them in his rear view mirror. Sparrow put the car in park and told Dotty to wait.
“[At the time] I wasn’t sold on the whole cop thing,” Dotty said. “I wondered if we were going to have a shootout.”
Worry turned to relief when she saw both men acknowledge each other, speak a few words, then hug before parting ways.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“Well, it was a guy I locked up a long time ago,” Sparrow said. “He just wanted to thank me for how I treated him.”
Similar scenarios became a theme as they continued to date and eventually marry.
“When [Steve] first took office, he would get calls from officers and deputies arresting people,” she said. “[Those who] were arrested specifically said they wanted to be taken to jail by Steve Sparrow.”
Sparrow, back at his office, offers a simple explanation for such encounters. “I treat people right,” he said. “It’s just the way I am—the way I was raised.”
‘That was my life’s dream’
“I was 12-years old,” Sparrow said without hesitation when asked what stoked his interest in law enforcement. He pinpoints the exact moment, when a wreck occurred in front of his childhood home in Louisville.
“As a 12-year-old, I was sticking my nose in, wanting to know what was going on,” he said. “There was a police officer at the wreck who saw me and turned around. I asked him what happened, and then he took the time to explain what it was. I thought—‘man, that’s cool—he knows what’s going on—I want to be just like that.’”
Sparrow never wavered from that dream and took his first law enforcement job with La Grange Police Department (LPD) in 1975. He served with LPD until 1980 before joining the Oldham County Police Department, where he worked for 20 years until 1995.
Several years later, in ’98, he ran for Oldham County Sheriff and won. “After the first nine years in law enforcement, I knew I was going to run for sheriff,” he said. “I just felt like I could do what the former sheriff was doing.”
State elected officials also urged Sparrow to run for the position, among them former Kentucky State Rep. Zimmerman.
“He [told me] that I was the only Republican who could win the [Oldham] sheriff’s race,” Sparrow said. “Up until then, a Republican had never been elected [for sheriff] in Oldham County.”
Upon election, Sparrow said he prioritized computerization of the agency, from warrants to tax bills. “We had no computers, so when someone came in to pay a tax bill, we’d take a stamp and put ‘paid’ on it,” Sparrow said.
The agency also lacked uniformity at that time, he said. Every police cruiser was a different color, earning it the nickname, “the Rainbow Fleet.”
Little time passed before Sparrow garnered state and national recognitions.
During his first term, the Kentucky Sheriff’s Association (KSA) elected Sparrow to its board of directors. KSA eventually twice-elected him as president in 2005 and 2012.
Only 18 sheriffs from across the country serve on the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA) board of directors. Sparrow was elected to that body by fellow sheriffs, nationally.
Rumor has it that Sparrow received the most amount of votes ever recorded for that NSA election.
In 2017, the NSA president called Sparrow and asked him to serve on its executive committee, a five-member national body. He proudly accepted.
“I’ve been very fortunate to move up the ranks as I have,” he said.
Those state and national roles, most importantly, became a valuable source of information that allowed Sparrow to introduce new programs and initiatives in Oldham County.
One example, the Triad Program, involved a partnership between law enforcement and citizens working together to help seniors.
His Sheriff’s Office also received a $500,000 grant for domestic violence victim, which allowed the agency to form its own until unit in Oldham County in the early 2000s.
“We had a separate building, separate staff, our own detective who investigated all domestic violence cases, along with involvement from Victim’s Advocates and CASA,” Sparrow said. “The money sustained us for [a little more than] two years. When we reapplied for the grant, the money was not there at the time.”
Throughout his law enforcement career, Sparrow said he prioritizes three demographic groups: seniors, domestic violence victims and children.
One major effort to protect children was the Child ID Program, still in use after nearly 20 years.
“It cost me $15,000 for the camera and the setup,” Sparrow said. “Every Oldham County Day, [our booth] has the longest line, with everybody wanting to get their kids’ picture taken with the thumbprint and card they fill out.”
‘I promise to take care of her’
Sparrow’s protective instincts toward seniors played a major role in his own love story with Dotty. Dotty’s mother, Mary, played matchmaker of sorts for both of them in the mid ‘90s.
Sparrow loosely knew Dotty at that time since both their elementary age sons played flag football at Centerfield Elementary. He was the only dad among moms at those practices. Both were single but not looking for a relationship at that point, Dotty said.
The team advanced to a championship game in Lexington, where Sparrow happened to sit next to Dotty’s mother. A lifelong UK fan, Sparrow remarked that he’d yet to attend a game at Rupp Arena.
“My mom, who talks to everyone, [told him] that she had season tickets and for him to come to a game with her,” Dotty said. “Steve went to two games with her that year.”
In March of ’94, Mary had an aneurysm that would lead to her death. At the ER, she told the nurses to ask for Steve Sparrow.
“She told them that Steve’s going to take care of Dotty, I want him called,” Doty said. “[Steve and I] hadn’t even been dating.”
Sparrow, still in uniform, drove all the way to the hospital in Bowling Green to honor that wish.
When Dotty saw him, she asked why he came to the hospital.
“I came to see your mom,” he replied. “I had to tell her something.”
“What did you say to my mom?” Dotty asked.
“I said ‘Mary, do what you have to do, but I promise you, if your daughter and I get together, I will take care of her forever.’
They’ve been together ever since.
Wise words from JFK
The decision to retire did not come easy for Sparrow.
The fatigue that comes with his dedicated campaigning largely dissuaded him from running for re-election.
“I go hard every single night and knock on doors,” he said. “I think that’s how I got [so many] votes over the years.”
Dotty remarks that she had to resole her husband’s shoes three times from all the wear-and-tear of those campaign efforts.
“I’m going to regret not running this time, but I just didn’t have the campaign in me,” he said. “The agency’s the best its ever been and now that I’m leaving. It hurts.”
Sparrow wished Sheriff-Elect Wakefield well, expressing hope that he’ll continue to build on a successful formula.
A deeply experienced and committed staff, he said, produces that success.
Before his first election, Sparrow remembers visiting the Oldham Era office, where a portrait of John F. Kennedy Jr. hung with a quote that influenced his approach as sheriff for years to come:
I don’t know how to do everything, but I surround myself with people that do.
“And I’ve carried that motto,” he said.
