Brookfield’s longtime enforcement officer, Jim Siran, will retire after 27 years of service in the village’s police department on Jan. 17.
Siran’s employment with the village actually began almost 30 years ago. He was hired as a part-timer in the Brookfield Recreation Department before applying for and being hired in 1986 to a new civilian post in the police department — enforcement officer.
“One of Jim’s biggest strengths is his work ethic,” said Brookfield Police Lt. Edward Petrak, who noted Siran rarely missed a day of work and was always on hand to lend a hand to a resident or co-worker.
“He is passionate about his job,” Petrak added.
The job was created to address growing needs in enforcing parking rules and handling animal control issues. In the mid-1980s Brookfield increased its commuter parking areas, and throughout the years Siran has become a familiar face for commuters using the downtown train platform.
In addition, Siran enforced the village’s street sweeping and snow ordinances. During his 27 years as enforcement officer, Siran wrote nearly 98,000 tickets.
“We’d be hard pressed to ever find a day that Jim didn’t lead our department in citations issued,” said Petrak.
Siran was also the police department’s go-to person for animal control issues and responded to calls involving everything from animal cruelty to rounding up stray pets. He specialized in the safe handling of stray, injured, feral or unwanted domestic animals.
“Jim knew how to handle an injured or stray animal in a safe, compassionate way,” Petrak said. “His replacement will have big shoes to fill.”
