NOTE: Throughout the month of July, BrownwoodNews.com is publishing stories daily on 40 standout citizens under the age of 40 making a positive impact and contribution within the Brown County community.
For more than a decade, Jesse Mares has been serving the citizens of the town in which he grew up as a member of the Brownwood Police Department. Now a sergeant on patrol, Mares, 33, intends to spend the rest of his career in the place he’s always called home.
“I started my career in Cisco in 2010 and spent just over a year in Cisco as a patrolman,” Mares said. “I had applied for the Brownwood Police Department and as soon as a spot was open for me I ended up transferring here and I’ve been here since 2011.”
Regarding his duties in his current capacity, Mares said, “I’m in charge of my shift as a sergeant, I’m one of the team leaders on the Brownwood SWAT team, I’ve served as an FTO here, and I’m a member of the BMPA which is our Brownwood Municipal Police Association. I was named Officer of the Year twice since I’ve been here. I also was named Supervisor of the Year a few years back. I’m currently in charge of training impact munitions at the department, chemical munitions, distraction devices, things like that.”
In 2018, Mares also received praise for his negotiation skills in ending a car chase in Early with an arrest after the suspect repeatedly told officers to shoot him.
Regarding the Officer of the Year accolades, Mares said, “One of the awards was through the Brownwood Municipal Police Association, which is made up of officers throughout the department. To receive that award was pretty awesome because it reflects what my peers thought about me. They respect me enough to vote for me to get that award which was pretty special to me. The second one was through the VFW, which is more of the community selecting me. That’s also pretty nice to receive.”
Mares was always interested in law enforcement but didn’t expect to pursue that as a career path early in adulthood.
“I always thought about being an officer, but it wasn’t my goal from the get-go,” Mares said. “When I first got out of high school, I thought about being an officer, but I didn’t know what all I had to do to become one as far as schooling. Life brought me to this career now which is great.”
Mares originally moved to Sweetwater with plans to enter the auto body collision field of work.
“I received my certificate, but once I completed the training on it I realized it really wasn’t for me,” Mares said. “One of my friends I used to work with helped me apply for the police academy. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it in, but I followed through with the process and got accepted. I thought if I didn’t make it at the police academy, I would join the military because I wanted to have a job where I felt like I was serving the community. But I graduated at the top of my class with the highest average and scored pretty high on the state exam as well.”
As for serving as an officer in the town in which he was raised, Mares said, “I remember when I went through the interview one of the questions I was asked was why did I want to come back to Brownwood? I told them it was because I love this community. I enjoyed growing up in Brownwood, it was a nice place to live, and people are friendly here. When we’re out on the street, we get a lot of support from the community. The media is not leaning so much toward supporting law enforcement, but here in Brownwood as far as the citizens go, they let us know they support us and it’s always nice to hear that support.”
Mares stated the part of the job he enjoys most is being able to provide a helpful hand during stressful situations.
“The most rewarding part is helping the people out on calls we go on, such as domestics, victims of violence, things like that,” Mares said. “That’s the most satisfying part of it, being able to help them out in their time of need. People call us because we’re their last resort and they have no one else to call for help, so it’s nice to be able to go and give them the help that they want, either by calming the situation down or resolving whatever incident they are dealing with and giving some peace to them.”
Mares intends to retire in Brownwood, but not before he moves up the ranks of the police force.
“Right now, I’m a sergeant and the next step up is a lieutenant,” Mares said. “My goal is to keep doing what I’m doing now, keep learning and study hard so when I get the opportunity to be promoted to that lieutenant position, I’ll be ready.”
In his spare time, Mares enjoys running with his dogs and has taken up Jiu Jitsu at Shadow House South Jiu Jitsu.
“I picked that up a year and a half ago and it’s been pretty humbling,” Mares said. “When you first start it’s pretty tough. You don’t know the technique and feel pretty helpless when you get on the ground grappling.”
Mares and his wife Carina have been married 7 years, and he also has multiple siblings that live in town.
“My wife, Carina, has been really supportive and she works for the Center for Life Resource in the crisis division. She’s known me since I was about 19 years old,” Mares said. “I’ve also got three sisters and one brother here in town and they’ve always supported me along the way.”