Arkansas Post-Prison Transfer Board Chairman Boyce Hamlet
Boyce Hamlet has devoted his career to public safety, criminal justice, and law enforcement across Arkansas and the surrounding region. He assumed the role of Chairman of the Arkansas Post-Prison Transfer Board following his appointment in 2026.
Hamlet previously served as a Parole Board Commissioner from 2020 to 2022 and was earlier commissioned as a state parole officer in both Arkansas and Mississippi.
He began his law enforcement career in 1996 as a dispatcher with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Police Department and was later promoted to patrolman. Most recently, he served as a Special Agent with the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office, where he earned the FBI LEEDA Trilogy Leadership Award.
Hamlet previously served under Governor Sarah Sanders as Arkansas State Drug Director, where he organized Operation Task Force Arkansas—the state’s largest and most effective anti-drug initiative—resulting in 1,274 arrests and the seizure of more than $55 million in illegal narcotics.
From 2015 to 2019, Hamlet served as Director of the Alcohol Beverage Control Law Enforcement Division, becoming the youngest person to lead the division in its 80-year history. He prioritized criminal enforcement and led major operations to dismantle illicit gambling networks that exploited our veterans and most vulnerable Arkansans. His leadership in these efforts led to his appointment to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force Executive Committee.
Hamlet’s career also includes service as a drug task force officer in the 20th Judicial District, where he was later promoted to Chief Criminal Investigator. In that role, he led major criminal and public corruption investigations, including an investigation into Samuel Little, the most prolific serial killer in American history.
A graduate of the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy (MLEOTA), Hamlet earned the academy’s Top Cop Award in 2007. He later graduated from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks Training Academy in 2010 and returned to MLEOTA as an adjunct instructor, teaching Rules of the Road and leadership development for new recruits.
Hamlet completed his undergraduate education at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He later attended The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, to pursue a Master’s Degree in Leadership before continuing graduate studies in Forensic Science at Oklahoma State University.