(MURFREESBORO) This is Police Week, a tribute proclaimed in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy to honor fallen peace officers. Rutherford County Sheriffs Office's Detective Jacob "Jake" Arthur Beu was on his last watch Sunday morning. The 31 year old Christiana deputy was enroute to Franklin Road Baptist Church to help with security and traffic. Tragically, a crash took his life Sunday morning, May 7, 2023.
Since the loss of his life occurred during Police Week, the public is mourning with the family and Rutherford County Sheriffs Office members. This very personal family time is in the heart of the community as well.
He was active in his local church, football and worked on an alpaca farm. He loved hunting, going to Dale Hollow Lake and spending time with his friends. He graduated in 2010 and attended The University of the South, playing football as a Sewanee Tiger for 2 years.
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Jake's longing to become a U.S. Marine became his focus which he pursued and graduated as a U.S. Marine Corp reservist in 2013. He continued his education at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. Jake started his law enforcement career with the Clay County Sheriff's Office, graduating from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Academy in 2016. He continued his career with the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office and completed his Bachelor of Science degree, with honors, from Bethel University in 2022.
Since becoming an employee of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, he has received training in Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) from the Tennessee Highway Safety Office in 2019, along with a Bronze Enforcement award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for 48 DUI convictions in 2018.
Cpl. Beu also attended training at the FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama for Bomb Prevention and Mobile Field Force Operations in May 2019. Corporal Beu began serving as an FTO with the field training program in 2019.
Jacob made the Sheriff's Office Special Weapons And Tactics (S.W.A.T.) team in July of 2019 where he functioned as a Master Breacher and an Entry Team Member. Beu was also assigned as Firearms Instructor in which he received his certification with OTG Tactical in October 2020, and his Instructor Development Course at the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office in April 2021.
He was promoted to Corporal on the Patrol Division in April 2021, functioning as a supervisor on Second Shift. On March 2022 Beu was promoted to the rank of Narcotics Detective in the Sheriff's Office Narcotics Unit where he remained until the time of his death.
Roselawn Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens is in charge of the arrangements for Rutherford County Sheriffs Office's Detective Jacob "Jake" Arthur Beu.
He is the most recent peace officer to die serving Rutherford County:
- Trooper William H. James, Tennessee Highway Patrol, September 14, 1942
- Officer Herbert McClanahan, Murfreesboro Police Department, December 16, 1946
- Deputy Marshal Sam Vaughn, US Marshall Service, August 8, 1953
- Trooper Lewis R. Hendon, Tennessee Highway Patrol, June 15, 1957
- Officer Joseph "Butch" Tomlinson Jr., Murfreesboro Police Department, October 28, 1999
- Officer Kay Rogers, Murfreesboro Police Department, November 9, 2005
- Captain Byron Motley, Murfreesboro Police Department, July 22, 2006
- Officer Matt Lovejoy, Murfreesboro Police Department, June 22, 2007
- Trooper Andy Wall, Tennessee Highway Patrol, May 7, 2011
- Det. Jacob "Jake" Arthur Beu, Rutherford County Sheriffs Office, May 7, 2023
