Detective Corporal Odess Myers Jr., 5168, started his career with the Deptford Police Department in March of 1998 after graduating from the Gloucester County Police Academy Basic Class 14.
He was first assigned to the “backbone of the department,” the Patrol Division. That was a time when we had to hand write reports. After 2 years he was sent on loan, for the first time, to what was known at the time as the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force. For a year and a half, he worked on several narcotic-related investigations. The bonds and work relationships he made there would last a lifetime.
In July 2005 he was moved from Patrol to the Detective Division, with Jamie Giles, to a newly re-formed Special Investigations and Narcotics Unit. He and Jamie worked side by side for 5 years. One of those years they set a new agency narcotic related arrest record and worked several cases together. During that span, Odess was sent on loan for a 3rd time to the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office where he and Jamie conducted and assisted on several investigations and assisted the DEA.
In September of 2010 he returned to the Major Crimes Unit at Deptford. Then in October of 2010, yet again, he was sent on loan to another agency. This time being the United States Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force Camden Division. For the next 10 years he was part of several high-profile fugitive related investigations; chasing down society’s worst criminals. During that tenure, he traveled up and down the eastern region from upstate NY to areas in Maryland, Virginia, and the outreaches of western Pennsylvania. He was part of the manhunt in the Poconos and assigned to support the Marshals SOG (Special Operations Group) tactical team. He was also part of the first time in documented history, extradition of a prisoner from Taiwan to the United States, for an Aggravated Assault case out of Camden County. Over that time period, he earned the position of team leader and was brought into the Marshal’s training unit. He was entrusted to teach response to critical incidents/active shooter and tactical movements to some of the best operators in their agency. A lot of “high speed low drag” experiences.
In October of 2020 he returned to Deptford and was assigned to the Special Services Division where he joined Corporal Eric Strouse as the School Resource Officers for the Deptford School District. A blessing in disguise, which afforded him the opportunities to become more involved with family and his passion of coaching football, wrestling, and baseball at the varsity and middle school levels.
He would like to say thank you to everyone he has worked with in the past. He has learned a little bit from everyone and for that he would like to say “thank you” for making him a better person. He worked for many different Chiefs, all of which affected his career one way or another. To his family, he would like to thank them for being the biggest support system in his world. He would also like to thank his two sons, Hayden and Jaxon for reasons that canot simply be put into words. A special thank you to his parents, retired Deptford Police Sgt. Odess Myers, Sr. 5115 and mother, for all the last-minute call outs, early morning starts, and watching over the boys when that bell rang, and he had to go to work. Thank you to his brothers David and Detective Tommy Myers, in Washington Twp, for the late-night talks and keeping him grounded.
