Soft-spoken and publicity shy, Jay McKenzie will end 30 years of local law enforcement work on Wednesday.

“It’s been a heck of a run,” said Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace of experiences with McKenzie, 52, the department’s chief of enforcement and friend of the sheriff since both attended elementary school.

Co-workers and family celebrated McKenzie’s tenure during a Monday reception at the sheriff’s office on Grove Street.

“I’ve enjoyed the service to the public,” McKenzie said. “I’ve enjoyed being around the people in Warren County. Serving in law enforcement is definitely an eye-opening experience.”

Junius Ward “Jay” McKenzie Jr. proved to be one of the most “thorough” investigators at the Warren County Sheriff’s Office in “solving hundreds of cases and helping countless victims,” Pace said.

Pace presented McKenzie with a plaque, which bore a replica of a chief’s badge, from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office recognizing 30 years of service. He also presented a proclamation from the Warren County Board of Supervisors allowing McKenzie to keep his service weapon.

“When an officer retires after a full tenure, it’s at the discretion of the department head to request that the board of supervisors declare their issued weapon as surplus property and allow an officer to purchase it for $1,” said Pace, citing 1972 Mississippi state code 45-9-131.

Jeanne Baxley, newly appointed civilian staff office manager, bid the retiree best wishes on his next step.

“It’s been a pleasure. Love you dearly,” Baxley said. “We’re going to miss you.”

“I’m retiring, but this is still my family. It will always be my family,” said McKenzie. “Just because I’m walking out the door retiring doesn’t mean I don’t care. You’re all my family. Any of you ever need anything, call me.”

At home, McKenzie and his wife, Rose, have a 23-year-old son, Jeremy, and a daughter, Breanna, 9. They are the grandparents of 2-year-old twins, Zoe and Emma McKenzie.

Jeremy McKenzie said while retirement “will calm his stress level,” he knows his father will miss law enforcement.

McKenzie could have worked anywhere he chose but decided to use his skills in his home community, the sheriff said. “He’s college-educated. He graduated at the top of his class from the state police academy. He could have worked in state- or federal-level law enforcement at anytime he wanted to,” said Pace.

McKenzie attended the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy in Pearl. He earned a criminal justice degree at the University of Southern Mississippi with minors in sociology, English and forensic science.

Pace, a roommate at USM, said he and McKenzie have been friends and shared memories since their days at Council Nine Academy — now Porters Chapel.

“There are memories of Jay McKenzie and I working together under some of the most horrible and tragic circumstances anyone could imagine,” Pace said. “But, there are also memories of some of the most hilarious events that police have the occasion to respond to.”

He remembered serving a search warrant many years ago at a local nightclub.

“We had the people arrested in custody. We had evidence recovered. We got all the way back to the jail and realized we didn’t have Jay,” Pace said. “We went back in the nightclub, and he was still in there, inch-by-inch going through the nightclub under the tables looking for narcotics and weapons that might have been thrown down.”

“I was in a back room still looking and never really realized they had gone until they had come back,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie joined the force in May 1980 as a deputy under Sheriff Paul Barrett and went to the Mississippi Gaming Commission in October 1995. He returned as chief of detectives after Pace took office in 1996.

“I wanted the best people, the most talented people that I could have on staff to provide top-of-the-line law enforcement. I could think of no better person from within this community or anywhere else that could serve as chief investigator than Jay McKenzie,” Pace said. “In my opinion, I hired the best in the business.”

McKenzie was promoted to chief of enforcement in November 2003 following the death of Roy Redditt, who held that position. McKenzie’s father, Junius Ward “J.W.” McKenzie Sr., retired as a captain in the Vicksburg Police Department and later worked for the Warren County Sheriff’s Department.

Like his dad, McKenzie indicated he might have a second career. He said he plans “to relax and take it easy for a little bit” as well as hunt and fish, along with work on a list of tasks written by his wife. “I’m not going to say, ‘I’m not going back to work because I do plan to… whatever comes up — something different.’”

With the chief of enforcement’s retirement comes a modest cost-saving restructuring in the department. The position will be replaced with four mid-level spots including two lieutenants — one over the uniform division and the other over investigations, a jail administrator and an office manager for civilian staff, all reporting to the undersheriff, Jeff Riggs, who is second in command to Pace.

“It will provide what is needed in terms of the administrative needs of making sure the divisions are performing at top performance,” Pace said. Lt. Billy Joe Heggins will supervise uniform patrol division; Lt. Randy Lewis will head investigations; Baxley will be the office manager to supervise civilian office staff; and Linda Pugh is the jail administrator for jail operations.

“They all have demonstrated a knowledge and experience in their particular area,” said Pace. “They’re all longtime employees who are familiar with the policies and guidelines of the department.”