New Highway Patrol information officer gets intense introduction to new job

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- In the weeks since taking over as the Missouri State Highway Patrol's new public information/education officer, Trooper Clark Parrott's dream job has involved plane crashes and devastating flooding in Troop E.

"My first day was March 28; I came in at 7:45 (a.m.) … and by 7:48, a radio (operator) walked in and said 'Are you aware we have a downed plane in Ripley County,' and the phones started ringing," explained Parrott, an eight-year veteran who replaced Sgt. Dale Moreland following his retirement in March.

Dealing with the media about the airplane, which later was found in Madison County, was "overwhelming at first," said Parrott. "Once I got through that first day, then on Tuesday, I was able to go do a program."

What followed was a pair of crop dusters clipping each other and crashing in New Madrid County. Then came heavy rainfall across Southeast Missouri, which flooded rivers, closed roads and forced the evacuation of hundreds.

"I walked into a brand new job, (and) there was no easing into it," Parrott said. "I hit the ground running and had to figure it out as I was doing it."

When the flooding "calmed down" in Butler and Ripley counties, then it "broke loose" in New Madrid County after the Birds Point levee was breached by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but "we got through it," said Parrott, who can now go back to doing educational programs again.

While dealing with some aspects of the job were somewhat new to Parrott, doing the educational programs was not.

Parrott hadn't been out of the academy long when he gained his first program experience.

Assigned to Troop H in northwest Missouri, Parrott said, his field-training officer was called to a school for a job fair and thought it "would be perfect for someone who was just green (out of the academy) to tell about it."

The job fair was followed by a "Stop the Knock" video program for about 150 children at Chillicothe, Mo., Parrott said.

"There's something about having 150 people in the palm of your hands," Parrott said. "I just enjoyed sharing the message of the Highway Patrol. … So, every opportunity I had to do programs, I did them."

During the six years he was stationed in Troop H, Parrott said, he was doing between 30 to 50 programs a year on his own for schools and civic organizations.

"We had a PIO in St. Joe (Joseph), but for him to come out to the town I was in, it was a 100-mile drive," Parrott explained. "There were a lot of times the PIO was busy.

"Once (the PIO) figured out I could do (the programs), he would call and say 'I need you to go here and do a program.'"

When Parrott transferred to Troop E, where he was assigned to Pemiscot and New Madrid counties, he continued to do programs.

"I was doing roughly 25 a year down there," including a radio program at Caruthersvlle, Mo., which his sergeant previously had done, Parrott said.

"When Dale announced he was going to retire, I did an internship with him just to find out" about the duties, Parrott said. "I knew I could do the programs; it was this part (news releases) that's kind of eye opening (and) dealing with 38 emails every minute" and the Blackberry ringing.

After completing his internship, Parrott said, he decided "I wanted to do this. I was fortunate enough to get appointed to it."

Parrott described the PIO position as being "truly my dream job on the Highway Patrol."

The draw, he said, was interacting with people, as well as getting the Highway Patrol's message out, whether it is talking to a group of 5-year-olds about stranger danger or a civic organization.

Since taking over, the challenge initially was "learning the job," Parrott said. "Hopefully, in six months, what I'm doing now on the computer will be second nature, but (initially) I'm having to research, print stuff out and find files … back of the house stuff that nobody really sees or know about."

In addition, Parrott said, the way he writes a report and the way the PIO division in Jefferson City, Mo., wants it on a press release are "two totally different things."

Parrott also is in the process of updating PowerPoint presentations and handouts.

"When I asked Dale for a program, he emailed me a PowerPoint or handout (but) someone had to create that handout and PowerPoint … that's part of the job I didn't (realize)," he said.

As Troop E's PIO, Parrott said, he wants to build upon what Sgt. Joe Matthews, Sgt. Brent Davis and Sgt. Larry Plunkett Jr. and Moreland, "the guys who sat in this chair before me, did.

"I want to honor them in the job I do and take the foundation they have given me and continue forward with it."

Although Parrott never met Matthews, he said, he was asked about him while he patrolled the roads of Pemiscot/New Madrid counties. To those who asked about Matthews, "he was the Highway Patrol" in their minds, he said.

"If 15 years down the road, someone would say that about me, I would be extremely honored," Parrott said.

Moreland, Parrott said, left "awful big shoes for me to fill. … The thing I don't want to have happen is in two, three months, a year, six years (from now), Dale goes 'Holy cow, why did I invest in him? He's not doing the job.'

"I just want to honor the guys who came before me. I want to honor this uniform. There's 80 years of history built into this uniform."

A native of West Plains, Mo., Parrott was appointed to the Highway Patrol on Oct. 20, 2002, at the age of 32.

"Being a trooper is something I always wanted to do," but having married in 1990, "we started a family so young I kind of put off my schooling," said Parrott, who believed a degree was required to be a trooper.

Parrott went back to school in the late 1990s and subsequently earned his associate degree from Missouri State University.

In 2001, Parrott, who was then managing Quiznos restaurants in West Plains and Nixa, Mo., went through a Community Alliance Program at Troop G.

Parrott credits the program as leading to his applying to the academy.

"Those guys (running the program), I knew all of them, (and) several of them kept recruiting me and recruiting me," Parrott said.

By the third night, Parrott said, he was given an application form. "That's when they said you need to be a trooper and quit selling ham sandwiches," he said.

Going through the academy, Parrott said, was the hardest thing he has ever done "physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, but it's also the most rewarding thing I have ever done."

Now that Parrott is settled into his newest job with the Highway Patrol, he said, he's "having an absolute ball with it."

Pertinent address:

Poplar Bluff, MO