The Training and Administrative Services Division has a broad scope of responsibilities, including policy development and all agency staffing and staff training functions, as well as budgeting, purchasing, payroll and benefits, agency property management, records management, media and public relations, crime prevention services and clerical support.

Leading the division is Maj. Jim Hodgson, who has served with the BCSO since June of 1987. 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, and management assignments with agencies in Georgia and Tennessee. In his tenure with the BCSO, he has fulfilled a number of management and administrative roles. He is also a POST certified training instructor in multiple areas, and teaches a number of in-service and specialized training courses.

Maj. Hodgson is a cum laude graduate of Cleveland State Community College and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and received his Master of Science in Public Administration degree from Los Angeles University. In 2000, he became Tennessee’s first county law enforcement official to earn the Certified Public Administrator designation from the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service. He is a graduate of many nationally recognized law enforcement, corrections, management and instructor training programs, including studies at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the National Crime Prevention Institute, and National Institute of Corrections. In 1995 he completed the Southern Police Institute’s Advanced Administrative Officers Course at the University of Louisville.

Maj. Hodgson is a member of the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Officers Association and the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, and is a Life Member of the National Rifle Association.

Maj. Hodgson is responsible for the development of policies, procedures and processes intended to ensure effective and efficient operation of the agency, guided by standards established by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, an international accrediting body created in 1979. In addition to managing Policy Development,

Within the Administrative Bureau supervision of the BCSO budgets is provided by Mrs Debbie Day. Mrs. Day submits agency purchase order requests to Captain Hodgson for approval, coordinates purchase orders with the County Mayor’s office, and acts as the agency’s "Accounts Payable" coordinator. She also tracks all budget
expenditures and balances, and assists with the annual preparation of the agency's budgets.

Mrs. Cathy Ruth serves as the Administrative Supervisor and Front Desk receptionist for the agency. Cathy,
who has also served for more than twenty years, supervises the agency’s Reporting Agency Coordinator
for the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS), and the agency’s Property / Inventory
Coordinator. Also under her supervision are the Benefits and Payroll Coordinator, who additionally assists
with a variety of steps in the hiring process, and the Purchasing Coordinator who provides assistance to all
divisions in securing the lowest prices for services and equipment and then verifies that all purchases are
received.

Maj. Hodgson also provides guidance and oversight to the other operational components of the Division, including:

Captain Tom Wasson  - Training Unit 

His career in law enforcement started 23 years ago as a reserve officer for the Cleveland Police Department.  Wasson has been at the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office for the past 18 years where his most recent appointment was as a Captain in the Training and Support Services Division.  Wasson is a certified firearms instructor and is certified to teach other courses by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Testing (POST) Commission. He holds an  Associate of Science degree from Cleveland State Community College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. 

Assisting Capt. Wasson are Sgt. Doug Towne and Sgt. Steve McCollum to provide all certified personnel with a training program that equips them for the job they are sworn to do.and fulfills requirements of the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST) for law enforcement personnel and the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) for corrections personnel. The training staff also coordinates the scheduling of the BCSO’s two training centers, the North Training Center and the South Training Center. These two training centers are equipped with the latest video and audio technology, and have opened up new opportunities for the training staff to offer the best in law enforcement and corrections training to our employees and personnel from other departments.

As you can see, this division is a busy place with a lot going on, even though most of its functions are "behind the scenes" and not commonly in the public eye. The personnel of this division take great pride in their work and in their contribution to making the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office the best it can be.

Captain Mike Boggess - Support Services

Mike Boggess started his law enforcement career at the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office as a reserve deputy in 1982. Six years later he was accepted for fulltime employment in the patrol division and has spent his entire career with the BCSO.

Capt. Boggess moved up through the ranks in the patrol division reaching senior lieutenant where he was supervisor of the division and was instrumental in starting the sheriff’s Mounted Patrol, the Marine Unit, and the Traffic Unit. He has also served as an investigator in the criminal investigations division and as a lieutenant in the Training and Support Services Division, supervising several areas providing support for the entire operation.

Boggess has attended numerous specialized schools and seminars on topics pertaining to law enforcement operations, facility safety and security, patrol functions and criminal investigations.

Prior to making a career change Boggess was an Emergency Medical Technician for the Bradley County Emergency Medical Service and a communications technician for Motorola Communications. He has over 30 years of service as a volunteer for the Bradley –Cleveland Emergency Management Agency and served in the Bradley County Rescue Squad for 21 years, 12 of those as Chief of Rescue. He still provides communications support for the EMA.

With his communications background and knowledge of two-way radio systems, he was selected in 2010 to participate in an invitation only seminar where he earned certification as a Communications Leader under the National Incident Management System.

Within Support Services is the Property Services Unit managed by Lt. Jim Brown.  He supervises administrative security, property / asset management, and property / evidence storage.