Dalton Police Blog

Safe Kids Dalton Receives Donation

Safe Kids Dalton recently received a $3,000 donation, along with 140 car seats, from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Safe Kids Atlanta through the UPS Foundation to assist with the agency's efforts to keep kids safe on the streets of Dalton and Whitfield County.  The Dalton Police Department is a partner of Safe Kids Dalton. 

The donation helped Safe Kids hold a car seat safety event earlier this month at the K-mart on Walnut Avenue.  At the event, Safe Kids inspected 81 car seats, removed 38 seats, and distributed 57 new seats.

Safe Kids Dalton Coordinator Retta Gavin said, “there is no way we could have done this without the support of all agencies; the Dalton Chapter American Red Cross, Georgia State Patrol, Dalton Police Department, Dalton Fire and Whitfield County Fire Departments, Hamilton Medical Center, EMA, Whitfield County Sheriff's Department, Murray Medical and Mohawk Industries.  This is a way we can put seats into the hands of those that otherwise cannot afford them.” 

“This is truly an honor for Safe Kids Georgia to infuse new funds in an economically challenged community to educate parents and children on injury prevention,” said Director Beverly Losman. "It is also great that our life-saving work has been recognized by UPS a company that prides itself on safety."

Also assisting in the recent car seat check were the Walnut Avenue Chick-fil- A, and the Walnut Avenue K-mart, which hosted the event in its parking lot and offered car seats at a reduced rate.Wanda Hulsey, Assistant Store Manager said, “it was great to be able to keep the kids safe. We are grateful for the purchase of the seats.” 

The Dalton/Whitfield chapter of the American Red Cross also assisted with the event. "Itis a great marriage with Safe Kids," said Chapter President Lane Ashworth.  "Uniform involvement with technicians and volunteers comprise the essence of the Dalton community.”

Safe Kids Dalton is a not-for-profit organization made up of police officers, sheriff’s deputies, city & county firefighters, healthcare providers, social workers, business people, and concerned individuals with the sole mission to prevent injury and death to children in car accidents.

Below: Members of public safety agencies in the Dalton metro area pose with Safe Kids representatives for a picture at a recent car seat safety event at the Walnut Avenue K-Mart; Dalton Police Officers Steve Zahn and Shaun Scott inspect a car seat (click images for a larger version).

 

Red Cross Honors Dalton Officer

The American Red Cross presented Officer David Saylors with one of its highest honors at Tuesday morning's meeting of the Dalton Public Safety Commission.  Officials from the Dalton/Whitfield chapter of the Red Cross honored Officer Saylors with the Lifesaving Award for the Professional Responder.  According to the Red Cross, the award is one of the highest honors given by the Red Cross to individuals or teams of individuals who saves or sustains a life using skills learned in an American Red Cross Health and Safety Services course.  This is only the 10th time that the award has been given nationwide.

The award recognizes Saylors' efforts in September 2008 to save one of his fellow officers from choking.  On September 16, 2008, Saylors and Sergeant Mike Wilson were eating together when Sergeant Wilson began to choke on a piece of chicken.  Saylors, who was trained by the Red Cross in CPR/AED, performed the Heimlich Maneuver on Sergeant Wilson, dislodging the food. 

Lane Ashworth, the president of the Dalton/Whitfield chapter of the Red Cross, presented the award to Officer Saylors on Tuesday morning.  Sergeant Wilson was also in attendance.

Below (from left): Lane Ashworth, Chief Jason Parker, Sergeant Mike Wilson, and Officer David Saylors pose after the presentation of the American Red Cross' Lifesaving Award for the Professional Responder (click for a larger version of the image).

Congratulations, Randy Evans!

On Friday afternoon, the Dalton Police Department took some time to honor Master Patrolman Randy Evans, who recently retired after 30 years of service as a police officer.  Officer Evans was joined by fellow officers, family, and friend at a reception at the Police Services Center Friday afternoon.

The officers and staff of the Dalton Police Department offer Officer Evans best wishes for a happy retirement! 

Below: Officer Randy Evans is honored at a retirement reception after 30 years of service to the Dalton Police Department (click for a larger version of each image).

 

City of Dalton Consolidates Computer Services

In a move that will cut costs and also protect against system failures, the City of Dalton is completing work on consolidating computer services for all city departments onto a pair of centralized IBM Blade Center servers. 

The Blade Center servers, hosted at City Hall and the Dalton Police Services Center, will last between 8 to 10 years without needing to be replaced, and requiring only minor upgrades.  Previously, each city department had its own computer server which needed to be replaced every three years. The city had to replace 24 servers every three years at a cost of nearly $6,000 per server.  Over a ten-year period, that amounts to nearly $647,000 to maintain computer servers.  Over the same period, the Blade Center solution will cost less than $340,000.  The new IBM Blade Centers require less power than the older servers, and they also generate less heat which reduces cooling costs. 

“Over a 10-year period,” says Dalton Police Lt. Mike Key, who has helped to oversee the project, “we estimate… it’s going to save us at least 50 percent of what we would have spent on servers during that time.” 

“Expenditures will actually go down, as far as what we have to spend to maintain everything,” says Dalton City Councilman George Sadosuk.  “There are very real money savings with this system… usually you’re looking at how much more do we need to spend next year to upgrade our systems.  We are putting in state of the art stuff, and it won’t need to be upgraded.”

The biggest benefit of the new Blade Center servers is gaining new protections against system failure.  If either Blade Center experiences a failure, the other Blade Center can take over all city computer functions with only a brief interruption.  For example, the servers at the Police Department fail, service could be taken over at City Hall and computers in patrol cars and at the Police Services Center would be able to operate again in as little as 20 minutes.

Click "Play" in the window below to watch a video on Dalton's new technology upgrade (Video may take a few moments to load, click the "HQ" icon to watch in higher quality).

DPD Participates in Law Enforcement Torch Run '09

Officers from the Dalton Police Department joined representatives from other area agencies on Tuesday morning for the Law Enforcement Torch Run, benefiting Special Olympics Georgia.  16 officers from the Dalton Police Department joined deputies from the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office and a firefighter from the Dalton Fire Department and others for the nine mile run through Dalton and Whitfield County.

The run started at the Municipal Court building at 501 West Waugh Street, and moved along Thornton Avenue to Bryman's Plaza.  From there, the runners traveled by bus to the 41 Bypass at Lakeland Road and ran to Valley Point Elementary School where they were cheered on by the students.  Then the runners wrapped up with a five mile run down Highway 41 to the Gordon County Line.

This year, the Dalton Police Department raised nearly $3,600 in support of Special Olympics Georgia.  We sincerely thank everyone who donated money or time to help in this effort.

Click "Play" in the window below to watch video from the Torch Run (video may take a moment to load, click the "HQ" icon to watch in higher quality).

Find Your Neighborhood Officer

Recently, the Dalton Police Department launched a new website featuring interactive crime maps of the City of Dalton.  Visitors to dpdonline.org can view a map of the city featuring pinpoints of each reported crime in the city in specified areas and over specified periods of time.  Visitors can also sign up for email alerts from the department, including any emails specific to their individual section of the city.

It's part of the department's new Neighborhood Policing effort.  Each officer in the department has been assigned a small neighborhood beat where they will devote extra patrol and also make contact with citizens to exchange contact information.  The department has just posted a new resource citizens can use to find out which beat they live in, and also how to contact the officer assigned to their neighborhood.  Click here to view a map of Dalton broken down into each individual beat. You can zoom in closer to find your neighborhood. Then, click on the beat number for your neighborhood to see a table with your officer's name, telephone extension, and email address.  The Dalton Police Department hopes to increase the level of communication between the citizens of Dalton and our officers.  We're hoping the citizens of Dalton will feel free to contact their neighborhood officer about things going on in their neighborhood, or simply to make contact and make introductions.

Law Enforcement Torch Run Set for Tuesday

The Dalton Police Department will participate in Georgia’s Law Enforcement Torch Run on Tuesday, May 19th, in support of Special Olympics Georgia. 

Officers from the Dalton Police Department along with deputies from the Whitfield County Sherriff’s Office will meet Tuesday morning at 8:00 am at the Municipal Court Building at 501 West Waugh Street.  From there, the group will run down Thornton Avenue to Bryman’s Plaza.  At Bryman’s Plaza, they will board buses and ride to the South Bypass at Lakeland Road.  From there, they will run along the Bypass to Valley Point Elementary where they will greet students.  From there, the group will run along Highway 41 to the Gordon County line.

The Dalton Police Department has been raising funds for the Law Enforcement Torch Run since February, and to date has raised nearly $3,600 of its target goal of $5,000.  If you want to help, it's not too late!  The department is still accepting donations both at the Police Services Center at 301 Jones Street and also online at www.firstgiving.com/daltonpd.  Each year, the Law Enforcement Torch Run is the largest fundraiser for Special Olympics Georgia.  This year, the goal of law enforcement agencies across the state is to raise $800,000, which will account for nearly a third of Special Olympics Georgia’s annual budget.  

"Click It Or Ticket" Starts May 18th

The Dalton Police Department will step up efforts to enforce Georgia’s Safety Belt and Child Restraint laws in conjunction with the nation wide “Click it or Ticket” campaign which runs from May 18th through May 31st. The DPD's Traffic Enforcement Unit and the Patrol Division will each be increasing efforts to enforce the safety belt laws, and will be conducting several special operations during the campaign. The nationwide traffic enforcement campaign includes the upcoming Memorial Day weekend and also is the beginning of “100 Days of Heat” in Georgia.  “Click It or Ticket” is a nationwide enforcement campaign to increase safety belt usage and to reduce serious injury or fatal car crashes. 

A survey conducted by the Dalton Police Department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit in April showed a decrease in the percentage of motorists buckling up in Dalton.  Surveys conducted throughout the city in various locations in preparation for the upcoming “Click it or Ticket” campaign showed that the usage rate in Dalton has fallen from 88 percent in November of 2008 to 86 percent.  For the state of Georgia, the usage rate is about 90 percent which is the highest in the southeast. 

Motorists should be aware that any front-seat passenger of a passenger vehicle in operation on roads or highways of Georgia must wear a safety belt.  Also, any passenger of a vehicle under 18 years of age must wear a safety belt no matter where they are seated in the vehicle, and all children under the age of 6 years must be placed in an approved Child Safety Restraint (in Tennessee, children under the age of 9 must be placed in a Child Safety Restraint).  Motorists should also be aware that not wearing a safety belt correctly with the shoulder belt across the chest is also a violation of the law and will not give the passenger any protection in a crash.

The Dalton Police Department reminds all citizens of the child car seat education class being held on Tuesday, May 19th at the Police Services Center at 301 Jones Street.  The free hour-long class will begin at 6:00 pm and is open to the public.  The class is being held in conjuction with the "Click It Or Ticket" campaign.  To learn more about the class, please contact Dalton Police Department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit at 706-278-9085, extension 124.

As always, the Dalton Police Department asks all motorists to Slow Down, Buckle Up, and Drive Sober to reduce serious injury car crashes.

Dalton Police Offer Car Seat Class on May 19th

The Dalton Police Department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit will be offering a child car seat education class on Tuesday, May 19th at the Dalton Police Services Center at 301 Jones Street. The class is free and open to the public and will run from 6 to 7 PM.  The class is being held as part of the Dalton's participation in the nationwide traffic mobilization, “Click it or Ticket”. 

The Dalton Police Department finds that many motorists are not up to date on Georgia laws governing child safety seats or the proper way to use them.  Georgia law requires that all children under the age of 6 be properly restrained in an approved child restraint.  However, there are also many factors, such as the age and weight of the child that have to be taken into consideration when choosing the proper restraint system for a child or particular vehicle.

There will be a drawing held after the class for a free child restraint system.

As always, the Dalton Police Department reminds all motorists to buckle up, slow down and drive sober to prevent serious injury crashes.

Anyone with questions about the class can reach the Dalton Police Department's Traffic Enforcement Unit at 706-278-9085, extension 124.

Dalton Police Seek Information on Theft

The Dalton Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying a woman caught on tape stealing a wallet from the Shugart Road Wal-Mart on May 7th.  She left with approximately $190 in cash as well as various credit cards, drivers’ licenses, and other forms of ID.

On May 7th, a customer at Wal-Mart mistakenly left her wallet on a counter at the customer service desk at Wal-Mart.  The suspect is recorded on surveillance video walking up to the counter and placing her purse next to the wallet, and then placing her hand over the wallet and taking it.  She then goes to the back of the store, then returns to the checkout counter and purchased phone cards using cash.  Before the theft, the suspect had been in the store to return an air mattress.

The suspect left the store in the Jeep Cherokee pictured below.  Anyone with information about this crime or the identity of the woman pictured below is asked to contact Detective Jason Bishop with the Dalton Police Department at 706-278-9085, extension 214.

Below: The suspect is captured on surveillance video leaving the store and getting into the Jeep Cherokee pictured below (click on image for a larger version).