LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge applauded the appointment of her long-time Special Agent in Charge (SAC), Jerry Keefer, to the position of Safe Schools Coordinator for the Arkansas Department of Education.
“Special Agent in Charge Keefer’s leadership has been instrumental to the success of my administration’s ability to protect children from online exploitation and those who seek to harm them,” said Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. “SAC Keefer is a well-respected and dedicated member of law enforcement whose expertise will benefit the Department of Education, but more importantly, the schoolchildren of Arkansas.”
“It has been a privilege to serve Attorney General Rutledge for the last seven years,” says Special Agent in Charge Jerry Keefer. “I look forward to working together to provide a safer Arkansas for children.”
Keefer began his tenure at the Attorney General’s office in April 2015 as a Special Agent primarily tasked with providing statewide trainings on active shooter and critical incident scenarios for law enforcement and educators. He also developed and implemented the Metal Theft Prevention Program at the beginning of the Rutledge Administration, which inspected metal scrapyards to ensure compliance with state law. Keefer is also a member of the State’s Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce which specializes in the identification and arrest of online predators. He was promoted to the role of Special Agent in Charge in November 2020 where he supervises a team of special agents who are assigned to the agency’s cybercrimes and Public Integrity Division. In 2022, Keefer served as Attorney General Rutledge’s designee for the Arkansas Safe Schools Commission, where he provided expert feedback on school safety issues.
Previously Keefer served as a Sergeant for the Jacksonville Police Department from 2001 to 2015. He is also a U.S. Army veteran.
About Attorney General Leslie Rutledge
Leslie Carol Rutledge is the 56th Attorney General of Arkansas. Elected on November 4, 2014, and sworn in on January 13, 2015, she is the first woman and first Republican in Arkansas history to be elected as Attorney General. She was resoundingly re-elected on November 6, 2018. Since taking office, she has significantly increased the number of arrests and convictions against online predators who exploit children and con artists who steal taxpayer money through Social Security Disability and Medicaid fraud. Further, she has held Rutledge Roundtable meetings and Mobile Office hours in every county of the State each year, and launched a Military and Veterans Initiative. She has led efforts to roll back government regulations that hurt job creators, fight the opioid epidemic, teach internet safety, combat domestic violence and make the office the top law firm for Arkansans. Rutledge serves on committees for Consumer Protection, Criminal Law and Veterans Affairs for the National Association of Attorneys General. She also served as the former Chairwoman of the Republican Attorneys General Association.
A native of Batesville, she is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. Rutledge clerked for the Arkansas Court of Appeals, was Deputy Counsel for former Governor Mike Huckabee, served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Lonoke County and was an Attorney at the Department of Human Services before serving as Counsel at the Republican National Committee. Rutledge and her husband, Boyce, have one daughter. The family has a home in Pulaski County and a farm in Crittenden County.