By Police1 Staff
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — After 61 years with the Montgomery County Police Department, Lt. Thomas B. Jacocks will retire on Wednesday.
Jacocks, 84, is among the longest-serving officers at a U.S. police department, according to the Washington Post.
“I can’t move as fast as I used to,” Jacocks said.
Today, his duties are administrative. He looks through arrest warrants for those that need to be expunged. So far, he’s cleared out 2,500, the publication reported.
His wife told the publication that the retirement is going to be hard on him because she’s not sure what he’ll do with his free time.
There is no mandatory retirement age in Montgomery, but officers must qualify twice a year at the gun range.
“The decision to retire was his own decision,” Montgomery Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said.
Manger told the Post that he is not aware of current active-duty officers serving in large agencies who are as old as Jacocks or who have served for so long with a single agency.
“He’s never lost his passion,” Manger said.
Jacocks isn’t packing it up completely, though. After retiring Wednesday, he plans to take two days off before rejoining the same unit as a part-time officer with the volunteer corps.
Officers said they’ll miss his work ethic and him being around as a full-time officer.
“Your unique insight into the psyche of the geriatric population of Bethesda will improve police relations,” Officer Tom Didone joked. “And allow untold nursing homes to have a police liaison who truly understands them.”