James Ferguson retired from the Mesquite Police Department after 30 years of service at the rank of Sergeant. During his service, James worked numerous assignments and served in every bureau of the department. James served as a tactical officer where he conducted entry operations and sniper operations. During his time on the SWAT team, James became the Sniper Team Leader. Shortly thereafter, James promoted to the rank of Sergeant. James remained on the SWAT team and was assigned to be the supervisor of the sniper team. As a supervisor on the SWAT team, James began planning and supervising the execution of most of the tactical operations that the SWAT team conducted. James was also responsible for planning training for the sniper team as well as the entry team. James served on the SWAT team for a total of 24 years. James was an operational sniper for 23 years of the 24 years of service.
Since the SWAT team was a part time team, James was able to work in other capacities in the department. James was an Assistant Range Master for 5 years. When the Range Master position became open, James was assigned to that position as the full time Range Master for the department. During this time frame James was responsible for conducting all firearms training for the 230 person department. This included, but not limited to, pistol, patrol rifle, MP5, select fire, shotgun, sniper rifle, and tactical firearms training. James was also responsible for providing active shooter training as well as tactics training to the department. In the position of Range Master, James was able to travel and attend training across the country, so he could bring back new training to his department. James served in this position for 10 years until he promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
After James promoted to Sergeant, he spent some time in two other bureaus of the department. James worked a short time as a supervisor in the jail before he was transferred to the Criminal Investigations Bureau as the Narcotics Division supervisor. James was ultimately assigned back to training where he was the training Sergeant for the entire department. In this capacity James was the supervisor over the range and was able to continue to assist with and implement training to better his department. James was also the TCOLE Training Coordinator for his department.
James has been instructing firearms and tactics for over 23 years now and he currently is the CEO and Director of Training for his firearms training company. James also conducts firearms training on a contract basis for other entities.
Prior to police work, James served in the United States Marine Corps as a Field Radio Operator.