Photo: Thomas B. Jacocks; Facebook, Washington Post
On Thursday, Lt. Thomas B. Jacocks will be retired at age 84—after a 61-year career in law enforcement with the same police department.
According to The Washington Post, Lt. Jacocks joined Maryland’s Montgomery County Police Department in 1955, with a .38-caliber Colt revolver on his hip, a Chevrolet police car with a floor-board siren switch, and a $1.44 hourly wage.
Jacocks remarked, “It is not expected for a policeman to ignore something,” which is what Jacocks must do as younger officers in the warrant and fugitive where he works chase down criminals, while Jacocks can only listen over the radio.
[sc name=”Article Mobile Ad” ]
And although he was out stopping motorists until last year, Jacocks cited another implication for his retirement: “I can’t move as fast as I used to.”
Montgomery Police Chief J. Thomas Manger says Jacocks decision to retire was entirely his own, noting that Jacocks never lost his passion for law enforcement.
Chief Manger is also president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) and remarked that he knows of no other active-duty officers as old as Jacocks—or have served a single police department for 61 years.
Executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police said, “I’m unaware of any current officer with that kind of longevity.” And regarding Jacocks’ remarkable tenure, Pasco said, “You have to commend him for it.”
Yet is seems Jacocks has no plans to leave law enforcement behind: he plans to retire Wednesday, and return next week to the same unit serving as a member of the department’s volunteer corps.
