Spring Branch ISD Dept. Police Officer James E. Walker doesn’t mind sharing his secret for 50 years in community and school policing. “I don’t get stressed by anything, and I don’t take it home with me. My work ends when I leave the station, and I enjoy my family when I go home. Stress will kill you,” the officer says.
Earlier this school year, Spring Branch ISD Police Dept. Chief Chuck Brawner presented Officer Walker with a special plaque as “Officer of the Year” for reaching his five-decade milestone.
He plans to retire officially in 2014 at the end of the current school year. Officer Walker, who is 69, has worked the past two years as the district’s Transportation Officer. Before that, he worked for 23 years as a night shift, evening and day shift SBISD police officer.
In 15 years on the night shift, Officer Walker might know more about school burglar alarms than even the alarm manufacturers. He joined SBISD after retiring from the Houston Police Department. He worked for 22 years as a night patrol officer with HPD’s Northwest substation.
“I ate breakfast when others were sitting down for dinner, but I enjoyed the night time. I did not realize that I’d be here this long, but the good Lord has kept me going,” he said. He worked three years with the Spring Valley Police Department as a young officer, and he also worked two years with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department Reserve, too.
He can easily recall larger than life personalities like Houston’s Mayor Louie Welch and Sheriff Clairville “Buster” Kern. He is married to Carol Walker, a retired women’s chaplain with the Harris County Jail. They had three sons and a daughter, and now have nine grandchildren.
Officer Walker will celebrate his 70th birthday in December.
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