SB PROFILE
CADDO PARISH SHERIFF
STEVE PRATOR
A Force for Good
In
Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator’s office, a huge organizational chart of the department hangs on the wall. The desk is neat and tidy — nothing extra, and nothing out of place. Guests are welcome to sit across from Prator in a comfy wingback chair. Next to the chair is a side table with a lamp and a family Bible. The only thing that feels extraneous in the whole room is the plush cow next to the Bible. It’s the only hint in the room of his upbringing and his life outside of law enforcement. “Growing up, we worked, and worked hard,” Prator said. “I raised cows. I love farming, being outside. I can fix anything.” “I was very fortunate to have the dad and mom that I had. They raised me right to treat everybody the same. Dad always said, ‘A Prator’s no better than anybody else, but nobody’s better than a Prator.’ That’s the way you treat people, like we are all the same.” Prator was born in Clarksville, Tenn. The family moved to the North Highlands neighborhood in Shreveport when he was in the second grade. He went to North Highlands Elementary School and Hamilton Terrace. He attended Byrd High School his freshman year, then transferred and graduated from Northwood.
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JUNE 2022
| SBMAG.NET
BY SCOTT “SCOOTER” ANDERSON
He also was active in the Boy Scouts, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. “I am proud of that,” he said. “That had a lot to do with where I stand today.” Prator admits that he wasn’t really ready when he took his next step after graduation and enrolled at LSU in Baton Rouge. “I was way too immature to be going to school,” Prator said. “I had gone down there on a scholarship. I had broken my foot in football. I went down on what was called a vocational rehabilitation scholarship. I primarily played and partied. School was not at the top of my list of things to do to have fun.” It was then that he fell into a career in law enforcement, almost literally. “I ended up falling off of the fraternity house,” he said. “I hurt my back. My father told me I was going to come home and grow up before I did any more college work.” So he returned to Shreveport. On Jan. 29, 1973, he started as an officer with the Shreveport Police Department. Without knowing it at the time, Prator had found exactly what he was looking for. “I didn’t grow up wanting to be a policeman,” he said. “But it had everything I needed. It was exciting, you got to help people, and it was outside. I didn’t have to sit at a desk, and that was perfect for me. I just fell in love with the job.”
