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Description: The Captain of
the Support Services is responsible for
the day-to-day operation of the Court
Services Unit, which includes Warrants
and GCIC; the Training Unit, which
includes the Office of Professional
Standards and the Citizens’ Police
Academies; the Crime Prevention Unit,
which includes the Volunteers In
Policing and Crime Stoppers; the Square
Patrol Unit; the School Crossing Guards;
and the Chaplaincy Program. The
Carrollton Municipal Court is
responsible for most Municipal traffic
violations as well as some misdemeanor
charges. The Support Services Captain
works closely with the Municipal Judge
and Solicitor to ensure cases are
presented in court in a timely and fair
manner. The Training Unit holds the
responsibility of ensuring that all
employees of the Carrollton Police
Department are adequately trained
utilizing in-house instructors as well
as resources from the State of Georgia.
The Crime Prevention Unit is the primary
conduit of safety information to the
community and manages civilian programs
such as Volunteers in Policing (V.I.P.),
Crime Stoppers, and the School Crossing
Guards. Currently Captain Robbie Porter
holds the position of Captain of Support
Services. Captain Porter began his
career with the Carrollton Police
Department in 1976 and worked his way
through the ranks of the Patrol Division
to his current assignment. Captain
Porter is a long time resident of
Carrollton, graduating Carrollton High
School in 1974. He has attended the
State University of West Georgia and
Columbus State University, where he
graduated the Professional Management
Program in 2003. He is also a graduate
of the Carroll County Leadership
Academy. The Support Services Division
strives to increase interaction between
the Department and the community, to
meet the training demands of the
Department, ensure the needs of the
community are met, and increase the
efficiency and safety of the Municipal
Court operations.
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Court Clerks:
The Court Services Unit is
comprised of one (1) Head clerk, one (1)
Court Clerk, four (4) full-time
Receptionists, and one (1) part-time
Receptionist. Their responsibilities
include: answering incoming calls,
accepting fine payments, processing
bonds for city prisoners, and managing
requests from the public. All Court
Clerks and Receptionists are certified
GCIC/NCIC terminal operators and have
completed many hours of training. All
GCIC (Georgia Crime Information Center)
and NCIC (National Crime Information
Center) entries and requests are handled
by this office. Mrs. Mandi Nicholas is
the GCIC Terminal Agency Coordinator (TAC).
Her responsibilities include ensuring
the accuracy of information entered into
the State GCIC and assisting with the
annual GCIC audit process. The Head
Municipal Court Clerk works with the
Solicitor, who is appointed by the Mayor
and City Council, and is responsible for
setting the calendar for Municipal
Court. The Court Clerk is also
responsible for the safe keeping of the
necessary paperwork to prosecute each
citation written. This includes
citations written by an Officer, results
of drug tests if necessary, background
checks that are made, etc. The Court
Clerk assists the Head Court Clerk
during Municipal Court where these cases
are heard. Records of persons
adjudicated to community service are
coordinated with Intertech Securities, a
privately owned company. Intertech is
responsible for the maintenance of
records and ensuring that community
service sentences are fulfilled. Record
keeping of time worked, insurance,
collection of partial fine payments,
etc. is the responsibility of Intertech;
however, close coordination and
communication is maintained with the
Court Clerks and Intertech Securities
personnel for the proper execution of
mandated sentencing and fine payment.
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Crime
Prevention:
The Crime
Prevention Unit, under the command of
the Support Services Division’s Captain,
is a pro-active policing unit that
consists of one full-time certified
officer. This Unit educates children in
the schools and teaches the general
public crime prevention tips from a list
of over forty tops on ways to reduce
their chances of falling victim to a
crime. Monitoring and maintaining the
Neighborhood Watch groups and checking
local pawn shops for stolen merchandise
are also among this Unit’s
responsibility. This Unit also
implemented Carroll County’s first
CrimeStoppers program, a Volunteering In
Police Unit, and the State of Georgia’s
first Reverse-911 computer system. The
Reverse-911 computer system has been
instrumental in dispersing information
to the citizens of Carrollton regarding
missing persons, crime alerts, city
street closings, and general pertinent
information. In 2005, 41 messages were
sent, with a total of 87,221 calls being
made.
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Office of Professional Standards:
The Office of Professional
Standards Unit, created in September of
2005 to help centralize and streamline
personnel development, is responsible
for the coordination and maintenance of
the records necessary for the Georgia
State Law Enforcement Certification
Program, recruitment for the Department,
and background investigations for new
employee applicants as well as
Volunteers In Police applicants. The
Office of Professional Standards Unit
also assists the Departmental Training
Officer in all training and is
responsible for Municipal Court Room
Security.
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Square Patrol:
Cpl. Larry Brewer does an outstanding
job patrolling Adamson Square. Cpl.
Brewer did this for many years on foot
but know cruises the square on a police
golf cart. Cpl. Brewer spends time
building relationships with the downtown
merchants as well as issuing parking
citations.
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Crime Stoppers:
Crime Stoppers is a
multi-jurisdictional collaboration
between Bowdon Police Department,
Carrollton Police Department, the
Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Mt.
Zion Police Department, Temple Police
Department, Whitesburg Police
Department, and the University of West
Georgia Department of Public Safety,
with Carrollton Police Department being
the hosting department. It is a
significant grassroot movement that
joins the news media, the community, and
law enforcement as an alliance to
involve private citizens in the fight
against crime. Crime Stoppers is
governed by a Board of Directors in
which volunteers are appointed for
two-year terms. Each month a Board of
Directors meeting is held in which each
agency is given an opportunity to
present details of a case in which they
are seeking help to apprehend a suspect.
A cash reward, from a fund set up at a
local bank, is determined by the Board
of Directors, to be given to anyone who
calls in with information leading to the
arrest of a suspect. Complete anonymity
is allowed by assigning a confidential
number to each caller. Once an arrest is
made in reference to a particular case
and tip, that number is publicized and
the tipster who was assigned that number
may go claim the reward. No tracking
mechanism is used, thereby allowing the
tipster to remain completely anonymous.
Numerous media blitz of this program
have been established throughout Carroll
County with the Carrollton Police
Department as the overseer.
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VIP:
The Carrollton Police
Department, as well as other police
departments across the nation, faced a
number of constraints and was confronted
with the ever-growing problem of
providing new growth within the Police
Department, but had to deal with these
problems with a narrow budget. The
solution was to organize a group of
individuals that would be willing to
donate their time, talent, and energy
towards law enforcement. Therefore, in
2001, the Volunteers in Policing (VIP)
Program was established in which
volunteers are selected to work at
Police Headquarters doing jobs that had
previously been accomplished by either
certified Police Officers or salaried
civilian employees. This program
accomplishes several objectives. First,
it allows the Chief to move the Officers
to the streets where they are needed.
Second, it saves taxpayer dollars by
relieving paid personnel to fulfill
their assigned job responsibilities and
eliminates the need for some of the
overtime pay. Third, it provides insight
on the problems facing law enforcement
to our citizens, and it gives law
enforcement personnel a more acute
awareness of problems facing our
citizens.
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CPA:
The Citizens’ Police Academy
was founded in July of 1997 to invite
members of the community to participate
in a learning activity to raise the
awareness of the Police Department’s
duties and role in the community; to
enhance and promote a positive
relationship between the police and
community; and to share how the
Department operates and what policing
challenges our city faces. What started
out to be an annual event has become a
semi-annual event due to such high
demand and positive response. At the end
of 2005, our Department had hosted 14
completed sessions, as well as assisting
numerous other agencies in the
implementation of CPA in their
departments. These factors also enticed
the development and delivery of a
Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Academy,
in which new elements and issues are
introduced to citizens who have attended
a previous session of the Citizens’
Police Academy. This learning experience
has left the graduates with a greater
understanding of everyone’s role in
crime prevention and provided them
first-hand knowledge of what is required
of today’s law enforcement. Through a
structured curriculum taught by Officers
and personnel from the Department, along
with specialized guest speakers,
students participate in a variety of
activities such as touring the Public
Safety Complex. Classes are held to
cover many different topics such as:
Family Violence/Child Abuse, Use of
Force, Juvenile Court Services, Training
Programs, Criminal Investigations,
Victim Assistance Program, Narcotics,
Accident Investigation, Crime Scene
Investigation, Internal Affairs,
Firearms, and Self Defense. The classes
participate in several outside projects
like attending a court trial and
participating in a ride-along program
with on-duty Officers.
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YCPA:
A spin-off of the Citizens’
Police Academy was created in 2001 for
youths between the ages of 9 and 13
years old. Many of the adult
participants requested some type of
session for their children; therefore,
the Youth Citizen’s Police Academy was
conceived. Due to the first session’s
popularity, the year 2002 saw an
extended attendance day. The first
academy was only four hours a day for
one week; however, Session 2 saw the
hours extended to an eight-hour day for
one week. Since such positive response
has continued, there are now two
sessions held per summer. The Youth
Citizens’ Police Academy attempts to
expand the youths’ knowledge of the Law
Enforcement profession, as well as
introduce them to the prospect of
obtaining a Law Enforcement career.
However, along with this option comes
the introduction of being a concerned
and active community member. The youth’s
exposure ranges from D.A.R.E. and school
violence to crime scene investigation
and touring the West Georgia Boot Camp.
At the conclusion of each session, a
graduation ceremony is held for the
participants, much like that of the
adult Citizens’ Police Academy.
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Explorers:
Explorers are a division of the Boy
Scouts of America for young men and women aged
14 through 20. The purpose of this organization
is to bring character building, citizenship
training, and a fitness program to the youth of
America. Explorer posts are organized by
businesses, industries, churches, schools, civic
clubs, and community organizations which provide
an adult volunteer leader, program resources,
and meeting facilities. These posts specialize
in a variety of career and recreational programs
designed to provide service, social,
citizenship, outdoor, career, and fitness
activities. Via volunteer Officers, this
Department sponsors, maintains, and supervises
Law Enforcement Explorer Post 911, which
provides its participants with first-hand
knowledge of the various aspects of police work.
The Explorers cover a broad range of topics
during lectures, discussions, and hands-on
training. Class topics include illegal drugs,
searches, proper arrest techniques, traffic
laws, traffic stops, fingerprinting, firearm
safety and marksmanship, as well as other
significant issues and techniques involving law
enforcement work.
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Training:
The
training of police officers is a primary
instrument in providing better, more
efficient services to the community. We
urge our Officers to set personal
education goals and assist in any way
possible to help them attain the highest
level of education possible.
This Unit oversees the training records
of all Departmental personnel, the
Office of Professional Standards, along
with being in charge of the Citizens’
and Junior Police Academies.
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Chaplain:
The Chaplain’s ministry
provides a source of strength to the Law
Enforcement Officers and their families,
other Department members, the community,
and the incarcerated. The Law
Enforcement Chaplain is the catalyst of
reconciliation, bringing God’s love to
the relationship of staff and Officers,
Law Enforcement Agency and community,
and their families. Believing that God
is an answer to man’s dilemma, the Law
Enforcement Chaplain bears witness to
the love and power of God to Law
Enforcement Officers, their families,
other members of the Department, and the
people they serve. This pastoral care is
offered to all people, regardless of
race, sex, creed, or religion. The
Carrollton Police Department is
fortunate to have a Departmental
Chaplain and will strive in every way
possible to utilize his God-given skills
and talents. The duties of the Police
Chaplain include ministering to Officers
and their families in times of injury,
illness, or death; counseling Officers
and family members with problems they
may be experiencing; offering
instruction in stress management,
ethics, death and dying; assisting in
death notification or suicide incidents;
victim assistance; and being on call for
situations such as disasters, hostage
negotiations, accidents, etc. to support
Officers as well as citizens. The Police
Chaplain is another important segment of
Community Policing - acting as a liaison
between the Department, the Officers and
their families, as well as our citizens.
In the fall of 1996, Douglas W. Hardy
was asked to begin volunteering his time
and effort to establish the Carrollton
Police Department’s Chaplaincy Program.
Since that time, our personnel have come
to look to Doug for comfort and strength
when the day-to-day stress of their work
becomes a burden. Doug is someone on
whom everyone can depend and trust. A
native of Hiram, Georgia, Doug entered
the ministry in 1973 while serving in
the Army. He has ministered in
Carrollton since 1987. Doug attended the
State University of Augusta and received
a Bachelor of Theology from the
International Bible Institute and
Seminary. His training centers on
community service, Police Chaplaincy,
and Hospital Chaplaincy. He is a member
of the Georgia Association of Police
Chiefs Chaplains and the International
Conference of Police Chaplains and is
licensed and endorsed as a Community
Service Chaplain. He has received other
recognitions and certifications
including “The Outstanding Young Men of
America” award.
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