BROKEN ARROW — After a brief stint in the restaurant business, Brandon Berryhill returned to college and took a couple courses in criminal justice - a decision which led him to eventually move to Broken Arrow as a freshly-minted police officer.
[Hear the KRMG In-Depth report on Chief Brandon Berryhill HERE]
He worked his way from rookie to Chief over the course of 23 years, spending 7 years in the top job before deciding it was time to move on.
“I moved here in ‘94 with everything in the back of a stock trailer with my wife. And I’m leaving here, still married to the same woman - she has stood behind me the entire time,” he told KRMG Thursday. “It’s been a pleasure to serve the city. I couldn’t have wished for anything better - I’ve gotten to do so many things in my career. I mean I’ve gotten to travel, meet law enforcement executives from all over the world. I’ve seen two presidents speak, and I’ve met one in person and shook his hand. SO I mean, I can’t even fathom doing anything else - and it’s been a pleasure.”
He says he learned early on from mentors that he shouldn’t avoid taking on roles that he didn’t necessarily want to fill.
“They always told me the same thing, no matter who my mentor was at the time,” he said. “You learn the most from the jobs that nobody really wants, more than you will the ones that everybody wants.”
And while it took time to bear fruit, that advice served him well, he said.
“Later on, things just come into focus. You learn something when you’re over the animal shelter that comes into play when you’re budgeting. Or you learn something when you’re over the jail staff that comes into play when you’re writing policy and procedure. It’s interesting how all that stuff comes together years and years down the road.”
Berryhill kept his future plans close to the vest; but at the age of 55, he knows he still has several years ahead of him and wants to continue to be of service.
“I don’t really know what I’m gonna do,” he told KRMG. “I do know I will gravitate towards something that’s going to involve something that’s making a difference, something that I’m being a service. Everybody’s got to have a purpose. But I’m looking forward to doing something that is, you know, not 70 hours a week, and not having to carry my phone 24/7. But it’ll be something where I’m giving back to the community somehow.”
Berryhill will remain on the job through the end of October.
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