Tonya Baker and Lt. Chip Whitfield pose with a certificate of accreditation from CALEA
DFD Chief Bruce Satterfield presents a commendation to Engineer Josh Peek
Chief Jason Parker stands with newly-promoted Captain Chris Crossen
At Tuesday morning’s monthly meeting of the Public Safety Commission, Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker officially announced that his department has officially been re-accredited by CALEA (the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc). The agency was officially informed of the re-accreditation earlier this month after a team of CALEA assessors performed an inspection of the department in April.
The department was first accredited in 2013 after an exhaustive self-assessment and later independent assessment process that began 2010. This year’s inspection was the department’s first renewal of accreditation which will run for four more years.
Accreditation from CALEA is an internationally recognized benchmark for professionalism in law enforcement. The organization’s goals are to strengthen an agency’s crime prevention operations, formalize management procedures, improve service delivery, and increase community confidence in the agency. Currently, approximately 6% of law enforcement agencies in the United States are CALEA accredited.
“Accreditation of law enforcement agencies is still fairly rare, so this renewal speaks volumes for the quality and amount of effort put forth by our officers and civilian staff,” said Chief Parker. “I’m proud of our collective effort to maintain this status and thankful for our positive relationship with the community. Even though there is quite a bit of turmoil around the country relating to the police, our community is very supportive and we hope to grow that even more through increased engagement.”
Chief Parker presented certificates of commendation to Lt. Chip Whitfield and Tonya Baker, department accreditation manager, for their efforts overseeing the agency’s re-accreditation.
Chief Parker presented Chris Crossen for promotion to the rank of captain during Tuesday morning’s meeting. Captain Crossen is currently serving as the division commander of the department’s Criminal Investigations Division (CID).
Captain Crossen has served the department for more than 20 years in a number of different capacities including patrol officer, public information officer, patrol shift supervisor, and operations supervisor for borh CID and patrol. Captain Crossen has a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University in business administration and a master’s degree in public administration from Columbus State University. He is a graduate of the Georgia Law Enforcement Command College at Columbus State University, the FBI National Academy, and the Senior Management Institute for Police.
The promotion was approved by a unanimous 4-0 vote of the commission (Keith Whitworth did not attend Tuesday’s meeting).
Dalton Fire Chief Bruce Satterfield presented a certificate of commendation Tuesday morning to Engineer Josh Peek for his heroic action to save the life of a choking infant earlier this month.
While off duty, Engineer Peek was eating dinner with his family at the Oakwood Café on Aug. 5. At another table, an infant became choked while eating. The infant was turning blue from a lack of oxygen when Engineer Peek ran up to render aid, delivering back blows and chest compressions to the infant. When firefighters and EMS responded to the scene, the infant was already breathing normally again, thanks to Engineer Peek’s quick life-saving actions.