State Homeland Security Director Charlie English praised the county's state-of-the-art-operation, which allows every law enforcement and safety organization in the county seamlessly and instantly to communicate with each other instantly.

The interoperability of the system is also designed to keep these communications out of the hands of criminals and potential terrorists, who would wish to do us harm.

The system, which is headquartered at the Newton County 911 Center on Carlton Trail, is the first in Metro Atlanta and one of few in the state to use the special technologies needed to make this seamless interaction between agencies possible.

It took a lot of foresight and perseverance from folks like Sheriff Joe Nichols, Covington Police Chief Stacey Cotton, the Newton County Board of Commissioners and the Covington City Council to bring this network on-line. The Newton County voters also deserve credit for approving the SPLOST that paid for the system.
 
We salute all of those who were involved in this undertaking.