Jonathan R. Parham
BA, MAS, CPM / Chief of Police (ret.)
Thirty years of finding where the work actually breaks, and fixing it.
I've led a police department, a county-wide policy and training operation, and the day-to-day operations of a city. Today I help organizations decide where AI earns its place, and build the tools they need so they own the result.
The record
Every rank in a municipal police department, then the offices that run the whole organization: budgets, departments, policy, and people.
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Current
Security operations leadership
Class A commercial property, Manhattan
Directs security operations for a premier commercial office property.
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2023 – 2025
Business Administrator
City of Rahway, New Jersey
Ran day-to-day operations across all municipal departments on an $80 million budget, with structured project management for major capital work.
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2021 – 2023
Police Director
Rahway Police Department
Led an organizational transformation built on performance management, mandatory body-worn camera review for use-of-force incidents, and New Jersey's only full-time 80-hour Jiu-Jitsu-based defensive tactics program.
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2019 – 2021
Director of County-wide Police Policy, Planning & Training
Union County Prosecutor's Office
Unified policy and training standards across every law enforcement agency in the county.
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2018 – 2019
Undersheriff
Union County Sheriff's Office
Directed agency training and rebuilt Internal Affairs processes.
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1992 – 2018
Chief of Police
Linden Police Department
Rose from patrol officer through detective, sergeant, lieutenant, and captain to Chief (2016 – 2018).
Education
- Master of Administrative ScienceFairleigh Dickinson University
- BA, Public AdministrationFairleigh Dickinson University
- Certified Public ManagerRutgers University
- Command & Leadership AcademyU.S. Military Academy at West Point
Teaching
- Rutgers Certified Public Manager ProgramService Delivery, Decision Making, Municipal Procurement
- Adjunct Professor, Criminal JusticeUnion County College
Speaking
- IACP, PRIMA, and Axon AccelerateOfficer performance management, risk reduction, and technology in policing
Honors
- Letter of CommendationFBI Newark Field Office
- Joint Legislative ResolutionNew Jersey Senate and General Assembly
- ResolutionUnion County Board of Chosen Freeholders
- Administrative Police Service AwardRahway Police Department
Affiliations
- Fellow, Future Policing Institute
- International Association of Chiefs of Police
- NOBLE
- New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police
- National Tactical Officers Association
Start at the problem. Find the friction. Then decide whether automation is the answer at all.
Most technology projects begin with the tool and go looking for a problem to point it at. I work the other direction.
Police work teaches you to establish the facts before you act on them. The same discipline applies to an organization: find where the work actually stalls, understand what that costs, and only then decide what, if anything, should change.
Sometimes the right answer is a tool. Sometimes it's a change in how the work is handed off. Knowing the difference before you spend is the whole point.
Dumb on
Purpose.
"Smart" technology earns that name by watching you. It collects your data, depends on a constant connection, and makes its real money on what it learns about you and your work.
The tools I build do the opposite, deliberately. They don't collect. They don't phone home. They don't turn your work into someone else's product. They do the job they were built for, and nothing else.
Your data. Your tool. Nobody's product.
AI Integration Consulting
Most AI projects start with the tool. Mine start with the friction.
DATUM Assessment
We find where your work actually stalls, measure what it costs, and decide whether automation is the right answer at all. Sometimes it isn't, and knowing that before you buy is worth the assessment.
Owned Tools
Where automation earns its place, I build the tool, fitted to how your people already work. You own it outright, and your data never leaves your hands.
AI without expertise just does dumb, fast. Your people's expertise is the asset. The technology should serve it, not replace it or sell it.
ATLAS Performance Management
Objective, defensible body-worn camera review for law enforcement.
I built ATLAS because body-worn camera footage is where police performance actually lives, and almost none of it is ever reviewed. ATLAS turns that footage into a system of record that holds up to scrutiny.
- Checklist-driven reviews matched to the incident, scored the same way every time
- Randomized selection with a permanent audit receipt
- Every finding tracked until the fix is proven on camera
- Supervisors' own reviews independently audited on a fixed cycle
Start with a conversation.
If there's work in your organization that keeps stalling and you want to know whether it's worth fixing, and how, I'd like to hear about it.