The Tennessee Highway Patrol is putting a face on the men and women who patrol the state’s highways. In a new Trooper Time episode posted Oct. 26, Trooper Gavyn Gilliam of the Fall Branch District, “the 5th District in East Tennessee, very mountainous,” sat down to talk about the job.
Gilliam said he has been in law enforcement “close to seven years,” with three and a half of those at the Highway Patrol. Before that he was a deputy with the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office while earning his bachelor’s degree at ETSU.
His reason for joining is personal. “I was involved in a car crash when I was younger, and that was a fatal car crash with family,” Gilliam said, “and that ended up pushing me toward road safety, and Highway Patrol was just the premier agency when it comes to fatality prevention.”
Asked his favorite part of the job, he said, “Probably the freedom. I like working multiple counties. … We’re from Memphis to Mountain City.”
His advice to anyone thinking about wearing the badge: “Don’t give up on yourself. … You’ve got to have the mentality for it, and you’ve got to have the willingness to serve.” Tennessee is better for troopers like him who back the blue line on every highway in the state.
