Officer Sparks
Patrol/SRT Officer - SRT Lead
jsparks@racelandky.gov
Started with Raceland Police Department: 2023
ack M. Sparks has been serving as a Police Officer with the Raceland Police Department since July of 2023. Officer Sparks previously served with the Police Department from 1989 until 1996, where he worked Patrol and as an Undercover Narcotics Detective with the Fivco Area Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force. He is currently the Department Hostage Negotiator (FBI), a Firearms Instructor (KYDOCJT), Tactical Instructor (DEA), Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Team (C.L..E.T) (DEA), Site Safety Officer (DEA) and is also certified in Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.), by Counter Force Training, Class #193. Officer Sparks currently works Patrol and is a part time Field Training Officer (FTO).
Officer Sparks left the Department in 1996 to accept an appointment as a Special Agent with the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Officer Sparks last assignment with DEA, from 2019 through 2021 was as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) for DEA in the State of West Virginia and Northeastern Kentucky. He had oversight of the Charleston, WV District Office; Clarksburg, WV Resident Office; Wheeling, WV Post of Duty; Martinsburg, WV Post of Duty and Boyd, Carter and Greenup Counties in Kentucky, with responsibility for 80 Special Agents, Task Force Officers, Diversion Investigators, Intelligence Analysts and Administrative Staff.
Officer Sparks was the first Commander of the DEA Louisville Division Office Special Response Team (SRT). The SRT is the agency’s Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) teams. Their role includes performing high risk arrests and search warrants, vehicle interdictions, close protection for VIP’s and specialist surveillance operations. The DEA Louisville Division Office SRT covers the States of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Prior to assignment in West Virginia, Officer Sparks was the Assistant Regional Director (ARD) for DEA’s Middle East Region with responsibility for all DEA investigations, operations, intelligence programs and training of foreign counterparts in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2016 through 2019.
Officer Sparks also served as a Team Leader on DEA’s Executive Protection Detail (EPD) in Washington, DC (Blackwater Certification). Sparks was responsible for providing close personal protection both domestically and overseas to the head of the agency. Immediately following the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, Sparks served as a Federal Air Marshal (FAM) until the Federal Air Marshal Program was expanded.
Officer Sparks served numerous tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, during the Global War on Terror (GWOT) from 2004 through 2019 conducting training, capacity building, counter-narcotics, counterterrorism and counter-insurgency operations. During this time, Sparks augmented and was attached to U.S. Special Forces, USMC, NATO Special Operations Forces and FBI Counterterrorism (CT). Sparks was also a Federal Law Enforcement liaison to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
Sparks served from 2011 through 2015, as a Country Attache’ in Cyprus assigned to the U.S. Department of State conducting Counter-Narcotics and Covert Operations with Other Government Agencies (OGA) in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine.
Officer Sparks was commissioned as a Special Deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in January 2023 and served as a Court Security Officer (CSO) for the U.S. District Court in Pikeville, Kentucky until returning to the Police Department in July of 2023.
Officer Sparks is a graduate of Marshall University with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree in Criminal Justice and Ashland Community College with an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) Degree in Law Enforcement. Sparks is also a graduate of the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training (KYDOCJT) Basic Police Academy in Richmond (1991) and the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA (1996). Additionally, Officer Sparks is a graduate of the John Hopkins School of Executive Leadership in Maryland (2007).
Updated: Sept, 2024