Living the American Dream

Jeffery Martin

Jeffery Martin

Sergeant (Ret.) Loudoun County (VA) Sheriff’s Office

Son of a retired United States Air Force Master Sergeant. I grew up at multiple Air Force Bases overseas and on the east coast of the United States. My dream goal at the time as a child and throughout my teenage years was to become a USAF Fighter Pilot. However, that was not my calling, the calling was to become a police officer. In preparation to becoming a police officer, I joined the United States Marine Corps and was shipped out to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island in South Carolina for Boot Camp. There, I was dropped to First Battalion, Bravo Company, Platoon 1118 for twelve weeks of the toughest training and earning the title United States Marine. After graduating from Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island in December of 1993, I was shipped out to Camp Geiger, North Carolina for School of Infantry for eight weeks and graduated, earning my Military Occupational Specialty, Infantry Rifleman (Grunt/0311). I received my permanent change of station orders to Kaneohe Marine Corps Base in Kaneohe, Hawaii and was assigned to Bravo Company, First Battalion, Third Marines, Second Platoon with the Third Marine Division. There, I served four years with two deployments to Okinawa, Japan at Camp Hansen. As my end of active service in the Marine Corps was near, I decided not to re-enlist and pursue my calling as a police officer. I completed my four-year active duty obligation and received an honorable discharge from the United States Marine Corps.

While pursuing a career as a police officer, I worked as a Security Patrol Officer at Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows off the Kohala Coast on the “Big island” of Hawaii awaiting to be hired by any local law enforcement agency in Hawaii or on the Mainland. On June 7, 2001, I was hired by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office as a Field Deputy for Field Operations/Patrol, which was the same day I was sworn in as a Deputy Sheriff. On December 21, 2001, I graduated from the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy in Ashburn, Virginia with session 105 and then started my Field Training Officer (FTO) program with three great Field Training Officers. Their names were Jeffrey Hunt, Kimberly Holway and Lillian Hines. Each was a great example and model of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

In April of 2001, I completed the field training officer program and was on my own as a solo field deputy and my journey began. While on patrol during my first four years as a slick sleave, I was a high performer in DUI, drugs and multiple other misdemeanor / felony arrests and received numerous awards. July of 2004, I was promoted to Deputy Specialist and became a Field Training Officer (FTO) in preparation to becoming a great Patrol Sergeant. I served as an FTO from 2004 to 2016, for a total of twelve years training over 50 to 100 field deputies. All have moved on to becoming detectives, SWAT, K9, FTO’s, supervisors, executive level command supervisors or moved on to other law enforcement agencies. Throughout my career as an FTO, I attempted to test for Sergeant a total of three times but did not make the passing score on the test to start the next step of the assessment stages of the promotional process. Instead, I went up the professional step in grade ranks for promotion and was promoted to Deputy First Class FTO in 2008 and Master Deputy FTO in 2013. In 2012, I took an in-service training class at the Manassas City Police Department called “Selling yourself, Preparation for Job Interviews & Promotional Panel” taught by Josiah L. Moser with Moser Training Solutions, LLC, who is a retired Major with the Fairfax County Police Department. I gained a lot of helpful training and advice from taking this course in preparation for the next promotional process for Sergeant. As of January 2013, I started online courses with American Military University to pursue my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice. The Sergeant process was announced in 2015 and I decided to work towards it. I passed the Sergeant test with a score of 80% and moved on to the assessment phase. A couple of weeks later, I was ranked as qualified to move on forward to the oral boards panel with the Sheriff and his Command Staff. I was then promoted to Sergeant, July of 2016 and in the following year of May 2017 graduated from American Military University with my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice with Honors with a grade point average of (3.76).

I spent a total of 5 years as a Sergeant in Field Operations/Patrol and was the supervisor at the Ashburn Station, Eastern Loudoun Station and the Round Hill Station. I supervised many great deputies, who provided committed services to the Loudoun County Community and worked together as a team. I retired from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office on July 1, 2022, after serving 21 honorable years and I’m currently working for the United States Department of Defense as a Police Officer in Honolulu, Hawaii.

PHOTO CAPTION: The photographs in the collage show the image of honor, duty, courage and commitment. As a police officer or deputy sheriff, we are also human and have lives outside the uniform and family. We build a trust in a community through engagement towards a community policing approach. While working overtime at an event in Sterling, I ran into a famous individual athlete Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice who played 20 seasons in the NFL. He was a member of the San Francisco 49ers winning three championships and ending his career with the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks. He also had a stellar career like all police and deputy sheriff’s have during their endeavors. Also, as a police officer and deputy sheriff, we are the image of leadership, showing integrity, and leading by example. We are sworn to never betray ones integrity, character or the publics trust and to always have the courage to hold oneself and others accountable for our actions. In addition, to always maintain the highest ethical standards and uphold the values of ones community and the agency we serve.

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