Tragedy leads to successful law enforcement career

Life events, both positive and negative, can sometimes affect the path a person follows. One such event led an Air Force communications noncommissioned officer to become a VA police officer.

Chavis “Jeff” Jefferson, a criminal investigator at Columbia VA, had been in the Air Force for eight years when personal tragedy hit. His sister, living in Jacksonville, Florida, went missing.

“I went home for a week or so, helping my family look for her and putting up signs in the area,” he said. He returned to his duty station and, a week later, his mother called and said he needed to come home. “She wouldn’t tell me why, but I knew.”

A Jacksonville police detective met them and explained what happened concerning the abduction and murder of his sister. The detective had a lot of empathy for the family on their loss.

“That changed my outlook on a lot of things. I didn’t think I wanted to spend 20 years in the Air Force. I wanted to be around family, I wanted to appreciate my family while I could,” he said. And that empathetic encounter made him want to go into law enforcement.

His father had been a police officer in the Washington, D.C, suburb where he grew up. Jefferson (pictured above) wanted to follow his father’s career path, but most law enforcement agencies wanted a college degree. I always had that bug to go into law enforcement. I just didn’t have the opportunity to do so,” he said.

Accepted position at VA

After leaving the Air Force, he went to work as a corrections intake officer with the Jacksonville Police Department for four years. A position came open at VA. He applied and was accepted. His wife is from South Carolina, so it was an easy decision to move to the Columbia area. He worked as a patrol officer for two to three years and then became a patrol sergeant.

“Jefferson is one of the hardest working employees within the VA Police Service,” said Chief of Police Mike Schausten. “His work ethic, standard of appearance, professionalism and dedication sets the standard for a well-rounded employee. He rose quickly into a sergeant position and took many officers under his wing and mentored them in many areas to help them succeed and grow.”

After five years as a patrol officer, Jefferson moved into a criminal investigator position. Then the opportunity to attend the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center’s Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) came up.

The CITP is a 12-week skilled training course that trains officers in an array of advanced academic and physical classes. To attend, an officer will have to be nominated by his/her department chief, and then selected by the training center.

“He is the future of VA law enforcement.”

Only about 20 to 30 percent of the investigators across VA have gone to the CITP. Approximately 50% of the course were Border Patrol with several other federal agencies, like the Secret Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Commerce.

“Jefferson sets the standard of professionalism and work ethic. He is the future of VA law enforcement,” said Schausten. “His compassion to help people makes him stand out and makes people feel at ease when approaching him and needing assistance.”

“As bad of a shape I was in when I found out about my sister, I always remember how compassionate that detective was. It opened up my mind set in that direction,” Jefferson said.