Pacific Index

Meet the new CPS officer, Zachary Parker Mayforth as he recounts the path he took to get a job at Pacific 

Recently, I sat down with Zachary Parker Mayforth, the newest Campus Public Safety officer at Pacific University. He moved from Massachusetts in May, and has appreciated the small changes. 

“Everyone’s been nice,” he says, when asked if he likes Forest Grove. “The weather is way milder here than where I’m from in Massachusetts. It would still be humid over there; hot and sad.” But then he brings up his secret wrath of Oregon drivers. “Me and my wife joke that people drive differently… so we’re still getting used to that.” 

Officer Parker Mayforth then recounts the near decade leading up to his move, and landing at Pacific. “In college, I studied History and Foreign Policy because I wanted to get into the State Department,” he recalls. “I did an internship in D.C. for a little bit, and I hated it. So I switched tracks and got my Master’s in Criminal Justice.” Eight or nine years ago, he explains, “I was just working a random job at a gas station convenience store and I got to talking with one of the regulars who was a State Trooper, and he kind of got me interested in it.” 

From there, he garnered inspiration and enrolled in a part-time police academy in Massachusetts. After that, he worked at a couple of colleges in the state before heading out to Oregon. “We came out here because my wife is in the PA program at Pacific, and a job opened up here, so it seemed like kismet.” 

When Officer Parker Mayforth is off duty, he says he is, “a bit of a homebody. I like to read, I’m a gamer, and when I’m not doing that, in the winter, I like to ski a lot, I’m a big skier.” This will be his first winter in Oregon, and he’d like to go up to Mt. Hood. On top of those hobbies, he also shares that, “My wife and I like to go hiking and bike riding.”

He’s really looking forward to getting to know the community, and the environment around him. He adds, “I’ve been told I can come off a bit scary,” he says, “I encourage anyone who has a question or concern to approach me and ask it.”