DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997                 TAG: 9704030196

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY ELLEN RIDDLE, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   97 lines

POLICEMAN IS ON THE JOB 24 HOURS - EVERY DAY

THERE WERE plenty of bullies in the neighborhood where Danny Couch grew up in Buxton. But he and a group of four or five kids who hung out together felt safe because Jasper Williams Jr. lived nearby.

``A lot of the kids in that neighborhood were mean - boy! But Jasper wasn't like that,'' said Couch, who owns the Lighthouse Service Center in Buxton.

``He put bullies in their place for us. If he could tell something was up, he'd come over there and make things right.''

Twenty five years later, Lt. Col. E. Jasper Williams is still sticking up for the victims.

The 44-year-old Hatteras Island native is now the number three man in the Dare County Sheriff's Department. As head of the Criminal Investigation Unit, he oversees five other investigators and assigns, assists in, works on and reviews cases including homicides, child abuse, background investigations, break-ins and traffic accidents.

And after over two decades of dealing with perpetrators and their victims, Williams still has the reputation of being a nice guy. Even people who break the law know Williams will help them through the legal process they face.

``I deal with people the way I like to be treated,'' he said. ``Regardless of the situation, you don't talk down to people.''

Williams' wife of 16 years, Juanita, said her husband often feels sorry for the people he has to arrest - especially youthful offenders. ``And then he wants to help them anyway he can,'' she said.

``He tells them they can call him anytime. It doesn't matter if it's the middle of the night. Sometimes you'd just like to take the phone off the hook. He says, `We can't.' ''

Although he doesn't sleep with a gun on his hip, Williams is constantly on call - and ready to respond. He has a 24-hour beeper that goes off regardless of holidays, vacations or birthdays. His car phone rings constantly as he drives to wherever he's needed in the course of a day, from the northern Outer Banks to Hatteras or the Dare County mainland.

And plenty of police calls to his Hatteras Island home have delayed Williams' kids from opening their Christmas gifts and left Easter Sunday dinners getting cold.

``If you're in this work and you think you're going to have an eight to five job, forget it,'' said Williams, who has two children. ``There are going to be certain interruptions. You have to compensate and try to make up for it later.''

Knowing he's helping people helps Williams deal with the stresses of being an investigator. Armed with degrees in criminal justice and business administration and a host of law enforcement education certificates, Williams says good communication is the key to success in his business.

He's worked for years at developing insight into human behavior.

But his common sense ways were evident early in his career.

In the 70's, when he was working on Hatteras Island as a deputy under Chief Deputy Raymond Basnett, Williams picked up three juveniles on a breaking and entering charge. Instead of arresting the boys, who were found with stolen goods, Williams and Basnett sat the youths down and talked some sense into them. ``There was no court, no arrest,'' said Basnett. The boys were encouraged to choose a-law abiding path and to make restitution.

``Law enforcement wasn't the idea of putting everybody in jail,'' said Basnett, who is now retired from the Dare County's Sheriff's department and lives in Frisco on Hatteras Island. ``It was improving citizenship - helping people.''

Basnett said that the three boys, who eventually left the area, went on to achieve superlative careers in the Coast Guard. ``They couldn't have done this if we had taken them to jail,'' he said. ``Jasper is this kind of guy. He had good common sense.''

Williams' job leaves little free time, but he tries to fit in a little surf fishing when he's off duty. He used to hunt. But he's lost the taste for killing. The devout Christian with jet black hair likes to read Bible stories. And as he works, he rides around in his county-issued Crown Victoria with a gospel tunes cassette plugged into his the dashboard tape player.

Hanging from the gear shift is a pair of handcuffs and a huge silver ring crammed full of keys. As he motors along, he talks cautiously about his job. His soothing voice gives no indication that he's stared down the barrel of a shotgun on more than one occasion or had to work fatal car accidents that killed folks he'd known all their lives.

A fourth-generation Hatteras Islander, Williams was born at the Coast Guard military infirmary in Buxton to Minnie and Jasper Williams Sr. Since childhood, some say, he has exhibited signs of being a natural protector. But as willing as Williams is to help those he grew up with, he also is unafraid to arrest people he knows.

Williams is known as being even-handed and fair in dealing with folk on both sides of the law. And Sheriff A.L. ``Bert'' Austin said Williams has earned the respect of his peers across the state.

But nowhere is this respect more evident than in the small town of Buxton where Williams first held back the bullies. ``Jasper has always been - and still is - the kind of person you look up to,'' Couch said. ``The whole community around here loves him.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE

Lt. Col. Jasper Williams, 44, is the number three man in the Dare

County Sheriff's Department. Even after two decades of police work,

the Hatteras Island native still has a reputation of being a nice

guy. ``I deal with people the way I like to be treated,'' he said.

``Regardless of the situation, you don't talk down to people.''

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