As I have said in the past, the role of community members is extremely important to our success. We are conducting a citizen satisfaction survey in order to help us become more effective in our efforts to keep our community safer. The goals of the citizen satisfaction survey are to measure levels of citizen concern for safety, levels of police performance, public confidence in the department as well as to provide an opportunity for public comment on police performance. This survey will be conducted online beginning Wednesday, Oct. 12, and run through Tuesday, Nov. 8. The link to the survey will be on our website www.conyerspolice.com. Please make sure your opinion is heard by participating in the survey. 

Any questions regarding the survey can be directed to our Certification/Accreditation at (770) 785-6684 or police@conyersga.gov. Thank you in advance for your participation and for helping us to do a better job for you. 

Starting with the November column, I will be adding an “Ask the Chief” session to this column. Questions may be emailed to police@conyersga.gov. Each month, we will select at least one question that was sent in and publish the answer in the next month’s column.

Last month, I talked about receiving the grant from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency that was used to purchase Biometric Fingerprint Identification Systems known as Rapid-ID devices. 

With RAPID-ID, an officer can scan a person’s finger on a mobile scanning device and the system automatically searches state and federal arrest databases for a positive match. The officer will be notified within seconds if any positive matches have been found, and any data found in the database can be viewed. 

Results from the search can include criminal history, warrant information and mug shot images.

The RAPID-ID devices are already proving their worth. The first week the RAPID-ID devices were deployed, a device was used to confirm the identity of a man who had given officers a false name. It was then determined that he was wanted for sexual assault and burglary. 

This past Sunday, the First Baptist Church of Conyers sponsored a community mission project in the Pinedale Estates Community off of Irwin Bridge Road. The goal was to clean up the community by landscaping overgrown yards and hauling off unwanted junk and trash. Several members of the department were in attendance to help with this project. I really appreciate the efforts of the First Baptist Church of Conyers and how their members selflessly gave of their time to help and impact this community. 

At the most recent City Council meeting, we recognized several of our officers for their dedication and heroic deeds. 

Officer Keith Kinder, Officer Corey Hambrick and Maj. Scott Freeman were presented awards for valor and felony apprehension in the robbery of Georgia’s Own Credit Union in March 2011. Maj. Scott Freeman was also presented an additional award for valor and felony apprehension for his role in the arrest of the SunTrust bank robber on May 5, 2011. 

I also want to extend my congratulations and appreciation to Maj. Scott Freeman for 15 years of service and to Communications Operator Cathy Williams for 10 years of service to the City of Conyers. These are milestone accomplishments, and I am extremely proud of them.