Leslie William Williams Jr.

Leslie W. Williams, Jr., was born on. April 1, 1938 in New London the first child born to Leslie W. Williams Sr and Laura (Davis) Williams of Old Lyme, Ct. The family moved to New London and Les attended St Mary’s grade school and New London High school graduating in 1956. After graduation Les was employed by Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics corporation in Groton as an apprentice sheet-metal worker. During his employment at EB he worked on all of the proto-type nuclear submarines constructed between 1956 and 1962 as well as the last diesel powered submarine (USS Darter) built by EB.

While working at EB he joined the Connecticut Air National Guard to fulfill his military obligations. After Basic Training he attended a technical school at Lackland Air Force Base in Biloxi Mississippi as a RADAR operator. In 1961 his unit, the 103rd Aircraft Control and Warning squadron, based in Groton, Ct was activated as the Cold War ramped up and deployed to Kassel, Germany to monitor air traffic to and from Berlin Germany and to offer close support and control reconnaissance missions along the Russian border. Deployment ended in 1962 when he was honorably discharged having achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant.

In 1960 he married his high school sweetheart, Margaret Giri. Margaret passed away in April 1981 and left two daughters, Dr Elizabeth Williams, MD of Phoenixville, PA and Dr Patricia (Williams) Emmons, of Mattapoisett, Ma. In 1983 Les married his loving wife Elaine Bengtson Lange of Middletown who became a second mother to Elizabeth and Patricia and Les became a second father to Michele Lange (Frank) Lentini of Middletown and Scott Robert Lange (Donna Kessler) of Southbury, Ct. Les is survived by his loving wife Elaine and four children. Six grandchildren - Erik (Allie) Mitchell of Phoenixville, PA, Matthew and Michael Lentini of Middletown, Kaitlin Emmons of Monterey, CA, Connor A. Emmons of Weymouth, Ma, and Lily Lange of Southbury, Ct. Les also has 5 great grandchildren: Jonathan, Sebastian and Jaxon Mitchell and Sophia Zagorski all of Phoenixville, Pa. Also to morn his passing are his siblings - Maryanne (Robert) Sweeney, Venice, Fl: Marjorie Williams of South Carolina: Shelia Burelle, CT and Brian (Cynthia) Williams of MA.

Les entered the Connecticut State Police Academy in 1962 retiring as a Captain in 1989 . During his career he served in numerous administrative and operational positions, most notably as Commanding Officer of Troop “K” in Colchester where he developed and implemented a community policing program, long before it became a national trend, which had a dramatic impact on crime reduction and solution rates in the fourteen town serviced by Troop “K” dire to community involvement. Les also served as the Director of Training and Commanding Officer of the Connecticut Police Academy in Meriden, Ct. During his ten year academy assignment he was the commander when the first female recruits entered the academy. Throughout his career he was a strong advocate for female police officers. Those first four troopers paved the way for all of the females who followed them in the male dominated state police department. One of those first females rose through the ranks to the position of Lieutenant Colonel. While at the academy he established an academic affiliation with the state college system whereby recruit troopers and management training graduates were awarded college credits for completion of those programs. He also authored and compiled the state police departments administrative and operations manuals that are the Bible of of State Police administrative and operational matters. Les also served as the Deputy State Fire Marshal with jurisdiction over all public safety regulatory codes including the states building and fire safety codes. He established a training and certification program for local fire marshals to enhance their enforcement o the state fire safety code at the municipal level.

Training and Education was a driving force in his development, in fact, for the past 41 years (until 2015) he has been an adjunct faculty lecturer at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, in the rimimal Justice Program having taught all courses in the curriculum, specializing in Constitutional Law and Criminal Law. He was a graduate of University of New Haven and the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy. He was also a certified instructor with the State Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POSTCARD), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and has developed and presented numerous courses in the public sector for private security officers and investigators. He was previously certified by the state to present training and educational programs to individuals seeking a Bail Enforcement Agent license.

For the past 21 years (retiring 2019) Les was the Director of the Law Enforcement Council a consortium of 23 police departments primarily for Eastern Ct, providing professional support and assistance to member municipal law enforcement agencies. Les was a lifelong learner and teacher. He had profound impact on his students, police officers and police agencies he came in contact with. He had a tremendous sense of humor and made all his classes interesting. It wasn’t always teaching and learning although Les never read anything unless he learned from it.

We did have some fun though:

He was Past Commodore of the Hamburg Cove. Yacht Club and a member of the United States Power Squadron’s National Education Committee where he was a Life Member. With his wife Elaine, they sailed in a 36’ Catalina sail boat (Hello Again) and for the past 25 years enjoyed cruising the northeast waters between New York and MA in their 40’ trawler “Lady Elaine”.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday, October 26th, at 11:00 AM directly in Saint Matthias Church, 317 Chesterfield Rd., East Lyme, CT 06333. Burial Will immediately follow in Duck River Cemetery. Calling Hours will be held on Monday, 4 pm - 7 pm, in the Fulton - Theroux Funeral Home, 181 Ocean Ave., New London, CT 06335. Donations may be made in Les's name to Connecticut State Police Museum at www.cspmuseum.org/CMSLite.