Maj. Jon Collins – Operations Bureau

Maj. Collins has been associated with the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office for 14 years, where he began as a reserve deputy in 1992. He joined the department in a fulltime capacity in 1994 and has been assigned to the patrol division throughout his law enforcement career. Maj.  Collins progressed through the ranks as a corporal, sergeant, and lieutenant, the position he held for  five years before being promoted to captain in September, 2006. He attained his current rank of Major in November 2011.

He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee’s Southeastern Command and Leadership Academy and the Institute for Police Technology and Management. He has received training in all areas of modern law enforcement, including terrorism, counter drug operations, supervisory development, advanced crisis negotiation, and incident command and community policing programs.

Director Gwen Beavers - Corrections Bureau

Director Gwen Beavers supervises the Corrections Bureau. In this position she oversees all operational functions of the corrections division which includes the staff and inmate population of the Bradley County jail.  

Director Beavers joined the corrections division in 1993 after working in the broadcasting industry for five years.  She has attended a number of specialized schools offering extensive training in all aspects of corrections and jail operations.  During her 18 years with the agency she has held a number of supervisory and administrative positions.

She started her career as a corrections officer but was soon promoted to shift sergeant and lieutenant before being appointed Training Coordinator in 2006 and Assistant Jail Administrator in 2010. She played a key role developing and implementing many of the policies that are still being used today pertaining to the supervision of inmates and jail operations.

In 2002 she was appointed to the Transition Team that developed a plan for staffing, policy development, and the operational startup of the new Judicial Center.  She was instrumental introducing innovation making the change from Indirect Inmate Supervision at the old jail to Direct Supervision at the new jail, a behavior philosophy that had been used successfully reducing potential for violence in federal penal institutions. She was involved in planning the re-training of current staff and subsequently developed the Corrections Academy to provide new correction officers with an understanding of this innovative approach to inmate behavior management.  She used the academy to expand the basic training requirements of Tennessee Corrections Institute to include topics such as conversational Spanish to give officers a better training foundation. The Academy was later offered to correction officers from other county jails in Tennessee.  

She serves as the Terminal Agency Coordinator for NCIC, ensuring compliance with all TBI and FBI guidelines, and is Assistant Administrator of the Integrated Criminal Justice Program Web Portal.

Gwen Beavers is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communications – Marketing / Psychology. She has completed Tennessee Correction Institute’s Certified Corrections Officer training, TCI certified Training Officer Certification, National Institute of Corrections Direct Supervision Instructor Certification, and FBI Instructor Development.

Director Beavers was awarded the Ken Owen Memorial Award from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in recognition of her work to adhere to the stringent and rigid standards of the NCIC.

She is active in several civic organizations and volunteers in many activities associated with her daughter’s school.  

Maj. Jim Hodgson – Administrative Bureau 

Major Jim Hodgson leads the Administrative Services Bureau of the Bradley County Sheriff's Office. In that capacity he oversees all of the agency's Training, Operational Support Services and Administrative Support functions. 

Maj. Hodgson began his law enforcement service career in 1974 as a Public Safety Officer with the University of Georgia Police Department.  Over the past 37 years he has served in a variety of patrol, investigative, management, training and administrative assignments with agencies in Georgia and Tennessee.  He joined the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office in 1987 as a patrol shift commander and subsequently implemented a number of progressive patrol tactics and procedures on his shift, which were subsequently adopted throughout the agency’s patrol operations.  He has served in a variety of supervisory and administrative roles during more than 24 years with the agency, and has contributed to development and implementation of many of the agency’s law enforcement service innovations, playing a key role in the agency’s adoption of the community policing philosophy from 1994-2000.  From 2002 – 2004 he served as Transition Coordinator for the staffing, equipping, policy development, operational planning and startup of the Bradley County Justice Complex which opened in 2004.  Most recently, Major Hodgson has served as Captain of the Training and Administrative Services Division of the Sheriff’s Office.

Jim Hodgson is a cum laude graduate of Cleveland State Community College and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and received the Master of Science Public Administration Degree from Los Angeles University.  He has completed extensive specialized and advanced instruction in a variety of law enforcement, corrections, training and management subjects.  In 2000, he became the first county law enforcement official in Tennessee to earn the Certified Public Administrator designation from the University of Tennessee’s Institute for Public Service.

Major Hodgson has an extensive background in developing and presenting training programs on a variety of criminal justice, leadership and management subjects for law enforcement and corrections officers, supervisors, and a variety of training, management and organizational development issues. He has written extensively on a number of criminal justice and management topics, particularly in the areas of crime prevention and performance management.

Jim Hodgson currently serves on the faculty of the Cleveland State Community College Basic Police Academy, and holds multiple instructor certifications from the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission and other law enforcement organizations.

Major Hodgson serves as President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #59, is a member of the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Officers Association, the Internal Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, and is a Life Member of the National Rifle Association.