The phrase, “home is where you hang your hat,” is the perfect description of the life of Jeff Hesser, senior advisor to the assistant director at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
Hesser, who was a military “brat” during his childhood, has called many states and foreign countries his home.
Hesser was born in Kansas after World War II. His parents were both in the Army during W.W.II and were married in Panama just before the war ended. The couple later left the military and moved back to his father’s home state of Kansas.
Hesser’s father re-entered the Army however, and the family began a life of travel, living in many states as well as abroad in foreign countries such as Okinawa, Japan.
Hesser remembers that many of the experiences he received during those times have stayed with him even to this day.
“It was a learning experience for me. I experienced different ideologies and ways of life and it was something that was a growth medium for me,” said Hesser.
He recalls the very difficult living situation of many Okinawans during the Korean War.
“It was a difficult situation for them. That made a really deep impression on me,” he said.
Hesser joined the U.S. Navy after high school, where he served as a radar man aboard a destroyer. He was later a assigned to the Shore Patrol in Charleston, S.C., which began his career in law enforcement.
After leaving the Navy, Hesser moved to Miami, Fla., where he began working for American Telephone and Telegraph.
He remembers observing police officers in Miami from his office window and thinking, “I could do that job,” Hesser said. This propelled Hesser to apply for a position with the Miami Metro Dade County Police Department. He was accepted and became a patrol officer in the department in 1969.
After four years as a patrol officer, Hesser decided to continue his education, enrolling in junior college where he received his associates degree. He then took a leave of absence from the police department to finish his bachelors degree.
After receiving his degree from Florida State University in 1973, Hesser returned to Miami and accepted a position with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax collector. He said that tax collecting, “wasn’t my thing.” He later transferred to Atlanta, Ga. where he was employed in the IRS’s Internal Security Division.
While in the internal security division, Hesser investigated crimes such as bribery, assaults against IRS employees, background investigations of IRS employees and even homicide and extortion cases.
After four years in his job at the IRS, Hesser began looking for jobs outside the federal government. He first applied for the position of Chief of Police in Douglas, Ga. He said he did not expect to be selected for the position. To his surprise, he was not selected for the job only because he asked for too much money.
He was later hired as Chief of Police in Hartsville, S.C. where he served for five years before accepting another Chief position in Glyn County, Ga, which is near the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga.
Hesser served as Chief in Glyn County for more than two years before receiving a position in 1985 at the FLETC in Glynco as a Law Enforcement Specialist Instructor. He was later appointed assistant division chief and in 1992 was appointed chief of training operations in the office of special training.
Hesser came to Artesia in 1995 to take over the position of assistant director at the FLETC, a position he held until 2000.
In 2000 the director of FLETC retired, making way for a new management group, who selected a new assistant director, Ray Havens, for the FLETC in Artesia. Hesser was then appointed senior adviser to the assistant director.
Hesser was not upset about the change and says that Havens has done a tremendous job as assistant director.
“They (new management), quite properly, looked around for their management team and selected Ray Havens, who was the former deputy director of the U.S. Marshall Service, for the position of assistant director,” said Hesser, adding, “He’s done a great job.”
Hesser is married to the former Marjorie Graham, who he says is a true “Southern Belle.” He has a son who lives in Austin, Texas, a stepson who lives in Atlanta and two daughters who live in Brunswick, Ga.
Hesser feels that in his time at the FLETC in Artesia there has been major strides toward becoming a thriving institution of higher learning for the nation’s law enforcement officers.
“We are rapidly becoming the most advanced training facility for law enforcement officers in the United States,” said Hesser.
Hesser said that some $60 million dollars has been spent at the FLETC for improvements and with future expansion plans, the FLETC will continue to be a big part of the community.
“The FLETC presence has been good for the community and the community has been exceptional to us. I’m just proud to have had a small role in the process,” Hesser concluded.