Dalton Police Blog

Citizens Police Academy: Week 10

Members of the Citizens Police Academy met Tuesday night for their tenth week of classes.  Academy participants learned about our school resource officers and the service they provide to Dalton Middle School and Dalton High School.  Members of the Citizens Police Academy also learned about criminal procedure.

School Resource Officer Terry Smith speaks to members of the academy

Citizens Police Academy participants

Family Fun Day

The Dalton Police Department took part in Family Fun Day at St. Mark's Preschool on Tuesday.  The end of the year celebration gave the school's children a chance to learn about the police department and get a first hand look inside a patrol car.  The Dalton Fire Department also attended the Family Fun Day.

Children from St. Mark's Preschool lined up to look inside a patrol car

Officer David Saylors a group of children from St. Mark's Preschool

Explorer Cards On Sale

The Dalton Police Department's Explorer Cards are currently on sale.  The discount cards can be used at 22 local restaurants and businesses.  The discounts range from buy one, get one free to 10% off of entire purchases.  You can purchase the cards for $5 at the Dalton Police Services Center at 301 Jones Street.  The cards are good through March 31, 2009 and all proceeds go to benefit the Dalton Police Department's Explorer Program.

Local Parents Learn About Internet Safety

Parents and their children gathered at First Presbyterian Church this week to learn about Internet safety.  Dalton Police officer Sam Eaton spoke to the group about safe Internet usage and some of the hidden dangers children can face while on line.

It is important for parents to take an active role in protecting children from Internet predators.  Here are a few tips that can help:

• Become computer literate and learn how to block objectionable material
• Keep the computer in a common area, not in individual bedrooms, where you can watch and monitor your child
• Share an email account with your child so you can monitor messages
• Bookmark your child's favorite web sites for easy access
• Spend time together on line to teach your child appropriate on line behavior
• Forbid your child from entering private chat rooms; block them with safety features provided by your Internet service provider or with special filtering software
• Take your child seriously if he or she reports an uncomfortable on line exchange
• Forward copies of obscene or threatening messages your child receives to your Internet service provider

Officer Sam Eaton speaks to parents and children about Internet safety

Online Alerting & Mapping Service Launched

The Dalton Police Department and CrimeReports.com have announced a new online crime alerting and mapping service that provided easy to read incident crime maps and automated alerts to the citizens of Dalton.  The service, located at http://www.crimereports.com/ or directly from http://www.daltonpdblog.org/, provides neighborhood crime data in near real-time and is available now.

The CrimeReports service is free to the public and allows citizens to receive automatic daily, weekly or monthly email alerts if/when crimes occur near their home, office, local school, etc.  Citizens can also view reported crime activity on an easy to use map for any location within city of Dalton boundaries.  Crime incident data is updated nightly and includes:

• Incident type
• Date
• Location
• Distance from citizen's address
• Event identification/case number
• Brief crime incident description

"CrimeReports.com will prove particularly valuable to those in the community who want to say informed about what is going on in their neighborhoods and empower citizens to work with the police department to address neighborhood crime issues." said Chief Jason Parker.

Citizens Police Academy: Week 9

Members of the Citizens Police Academy met Tuesday night for their ninth week of classes.  Academy participants got a chance to work with the Firearms Training Simulator (FATS).  The FATS system is used by officers for training purposes.  It is an interactive system that enables officers to make "shoot - don't shoot" decisions in a controlled training environment.  It allows officers the opportunity to practice their verbal direction, use of cover, weapon handling and observation skills.

Officer Chris McDonald explains the FATS system to an academy participant

An academy participants takes part in a FATS training scenario

Medal of Valor Recipients

Two Dalton Police officers were recognized Tuesday for their recent heroic efforts.  At this week's Public Safety Commission meeting, Jeff Carrier and Chad Owen each received a Medal of Valor.  The medals were awarded after both officers risked their lives to try and save a baby from a burning apartment.  Fire officials were still en route to the blaze when our officers arrived on the scene.  The officers entered the burning building and emptied four fire extinguishers while trying to reach the upstairs bedroom where the baby was trapped.

Chief Jason Parker presenting the medals

Public Safety Commissioner Lane Ashworth, Officer Chad Owen, Jeff Carrier & Chief Jason Parker

Cuffed For A Cause

The Dalton Police Department and Special Olympics Georgia are teaming up to raise money for the Law Enforcement Torch Run.  Officers will be handcuffed to moving treadmills for five hours for Georgia's first annual "Cuffed for a Cause" this Friday.  They will collect donations as they walk for a good cause.  The officers will be on the treadmills from 3:00pm to 8:00pm on Friday April 25th at Wal-Mart on Shugart Road.  Donations can be made in cash and credit cards will be accepted as well.  Donations can also be made by going to http://www.firstgiving.com/daltonpd.

For more informaiton contact Sergeant Chris Crossen at 706-278-9085 extension 310.

For more informaiton about "Cuffed for a Cause" and the Law Enforcement Torch Run visit http://www.specialolympicsga.org/.

Dalton Officers Learn Spanish

The Dalton Police Department and the Whitfield County Sheriff's Department are taking part in a basic Spanish class this week.  The week-long class is offered once a year.  An advanced Spanish class is also offered later in the year.  The class is a training requirement for Dalton Police officers pursuing advancement within the department.

Citizens Police Academy: Week 8

Members of the Citizens Police Academy met Tuesday night for their eighth week of classes.  Academy participants learned about crime scene investigations.  Participants also had the opportunity to see inside the police department's crime scene van.

Academy participants inside the police department's crime scene van

Detective Mack Flood discussing crime scene investigating