News Releases

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Tomorrow, November 30, Lieutenant Thomas B. Jacocks will complete his last tour of duty after 61 plus years of dedicated service with the Montgomery County Police Department. Lieutenant Jacocks joined the Montgomery County Police Department on July 1, 1955. He will retire as the longest-serving member of law enforcement at a single agency in the state of Maryland.

Jacocks was born in October of 1932, in Washington, D.C. According to family members, Jacocks announced at dinner one evening, when he was six years old, that he was going to be a police officer when he grew up. Jacocks graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase (BCC) High School in 1951 and in the summer of 1952 enlisted in the Army during the Korean War; he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. In 1954, after his military tour ended, he applied to become a Montgomery County Police Officer. He was sworn in on July 1, 1955, and began his career as a patrol officer in Bethesda. He married his wife, Peggy, and they moved to Kensington where they raised their five children. Jacocks rose through the ranks from Patrol Officer to Detective Private First Class, Detective Corporal, Detective Sergeant, Detective Sergeant First Class, to Lieutenant. He has worked not only in the 2^nd District (Bethesda station), but also in the Juvenile Aid Bureau, the Warrant and Fugitive Bureau, the 4th District (Wheaton-Glenmont station), the 3rd District (Silver Spring station), and as the Court Liaison Officer.

Jacocks has also dedicated over 30 years of service to the Maryland Special Olympics program. He is a fundraising leader for the Department’s annual Torch Run that benefits Special Olympics and has attended every Department Torch Run since Maryland’s inception of the program in 1985.

Certainly Jacocks has seen many changes in police work and the county over his 61 plus years of service. On Jacocks’s first day on the job, he was one of 180 officers serving a population of about 200,000. Today, he serves as one of more than 1,200 officers who serve a population of over 1,000,000 residents. If you’re fortunate to sit down with the soft-spoken Jacocks, the stories that he will tell you from his seasoned perspective about police work are fascinating.

Chief Tom Manger, commenting on Lieutenant Jacocks career, said, "For over 61 years, Lieutenant Tom Jacocks has remained committed to his profession and serving the residents of Montgomery County."

The 84-year-old Lieutenant does not like the spotlight and humbly prefers to retire without great fanfare. Nonetheless, to celebrate his impressive career, his fellow police officers and police personnel, family, and friends, will hold a low-key gathering tomorrow. It will be held at the Montgomery County Public Safety Headquarters.

Note to Media: Media is invited to attend Lieutenant Jacocks' retirement reception tomorrow at the Public Safety Headquarters. For more information and to RSVP please call the Public Information Office at 240-773-5030, press option 4.