Robert Lewis Parker Sr. was born July 21, 1953, the second of four children of a career military family led by parents Robert T. and Mary Parker of Monticello-Jefferson County, Florida. During his formative years, Robert attended the public schools of Stuttgart Germany; Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo; Jefferson County Florida; Kitzingen Germany; Vero Beach High in Vero Beach, FL; and completed high school at Baker High School in Columbus, Muscogee County, Ga. After graduating high school in 1972, Parker joined the U.S Army and served three and a half years in active military duty. Completing his term of enlistment in Fort Bliss Texas, Parker returned to Miami in 1976 where he had served an earlier military duty assignment at the Homestead Air Force Base. In addition to his honorable service to the United States Army, Parker holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Barry University and a Master’s Degree from Nova Southeastern University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the FBI National Executive Institute at Quantico, VA.

Parker joined the Metro-Dade Police Department in October 1976 where he remained employed for 33 years. In April 2004, Parker rose through the ranks to achieve the highest attainable office in the police department, Director of Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) and Sheriff for Miami Dade County, becoming the first Black in history to achieve this honor. Over the course of the 33 distinguished years with the MDPD, Parker worked in a variety of investigative and uniformed police assignments as Police Officer, Corporal, Sergeant, Master Sergeant and Lieutenant. In fact, Parker served in every possible civil service rank classification and earned a record 10 badges for encasement by the time he retired.

As MDPD Director, Parker was one of the several leaders of member jurisdictions supporting Major Cities Chiefs’ focus on developing standardized reporting guidelines for the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reports Initiative (NSI). Parker was also instrumental and provided key leadership and support to the establishment of the first ever mortgage fraud task force within a local law enforcement agency in the State of Florida, a high-profile initiative that became the model and template for the first State of Florida mortgage fraud task force.

Robert Parker Sr. is presently a member of Chicago-based Hillard Heintze Consulting Senior Leadership Council on Advancing Excellence in Policing and Public Safety. He performs a number of voluntary services and is employed on a part-time basis with the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project of the Miami-County School Board, a program he has been affiliated with for 18 years. Parker is a recent addition to the Board of Directors for the 50 States Security Company, a South Florida based firm and serves on the Executive Board of the Honor Network and The United States Honor Flag as Board of Chiefs Director. Recently, Parker accepted a position to serve on the Senior Leadership Advisory Board for the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) South Florida Chapter.

Additional professional affiliations include the International Association Chiefs of Police (IACP), FBI National Executive Institute, FBI National Academy Associates, National Sheriffs’ Association, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), Florida Police Chiefs Association, Florida Sheriffs’ Association, Major Cities Chiefs, Dade County Association of Chief of Police, The Two Hundred Club of Greater Miami, Spirit of Christ Ministries, Inc., and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.

Robert Lewis Parker, Sr. is married to Veronica Buie Parker and together they have three children, Kalika Parker 35, Robert Lewis Parker Jr. 28, Kyron Parker 23, and two grandchildren, Kiersten Joy 6, and Parker Joy 2.