Police cars lined Holy Redeemer Catholic Church on Thursday for the funeral of Lt. Thomas Jacocks, the longest-serving member of the Montgomery County Police Department.
Jacocks retired from the department in November 2016 at age 84. He died on Dec. 14 at age 86.
Police said his 61 years of service, including as a volunteer at the Public Safety Headquarters through 2018, is unparalleled in Maryland.
Jacocks graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in 1951. After two years in the Army during the Korean War, he was sworn in as a Montgomery County police officer in 1955. At the time, the force had 180 officers serving a community of around 200,000, police said. Those numbers had risen to more than 1,200 officers serving over 1 million residents when Jacocks retired.
During his six decades with the department, Jacocks worked at stations in Bethesda, Wheaton-Glenmont and Silver Spring, in addition to stints with the Juvenile Aid Bureau, Warrant and Fugitive Bureau and as the Court Liaison Officer, police said.
Capt. Tom Didone, director of the Montgomery County police department’s traffic division, met Jacocks in the 1990s. They worked together for more than 20 years, with Didone rising to lieutenant then captain under Jacocks’ guidance.
“By then, our relationship had gotten to the point where he was like my dad,” Didone said. “There was nothing cooler than working with someone that you idolized.”
Jacocks was also involved with Maryland Special Olympics as a fundraising leader for the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run. The program began in Maryland in 1985, and Jacocks attended every run until his retirement, in addition to the annual games.
“He’s been at every Summer Games presenting medals to athletes that I can remember,” Senior Director of Special Events for Special Olympics Maryland Betsy Jiron said. “He’s always been a huge supporter of Special Olympics.”
Jiron relayed a comment from one of Jacocks’ daughters at the funeral service about how special it was to receive the obligatory torch run T-shirt from her father every year. The shirts are the primary source of fundraising for the event.
A big traveler, Didone asked the reserved Jacocks where he wanted to go after his career came to a close. Jacocks answered the police office, and Pennsylvania, Texas and California, where his three children live.
“He had a police family that he was committed to, and his family family,” Didone said. “I was just blessed to be kind of adopted by him.”
