The Conyers Police Department and Covington Police Department were recognized for their work in building community relations with runner-up status of the Dr. Curtis E. McClung/Motorola Award for Excellence by the Ga. Association of the Chiefs of Police, awarded July 28.

Armstrong Atlantic State University Police Department was named the winner of the 2014 Dr. Curtis E. McClung/Motorola Award for Excellence by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police.

This award, which is co-sponsored by the Motorola Corporation, is given annually to an agency in recognition of an innovative program initiated by the department that fosters law enforcement excellence. Chief Wayne Wilcox and representatives from the University received the award on Monday evening.

Cybercrime is possibly the fastest growing crime trend in the country according to some nationally recognized experts. However, the ability of law enforcement agencies to retrieve cyber data from electronic devices remains difficult. A lack of forensic capability along with a backlog of cases at forensic labs hindered law enforcement from pursuing this valuable data evidence collection.

AASUPD initiated a Cyber Forensics Division within their 18 member agency in conjunction with the criminal justice program. This program has positively impacted not only surrounding local agencies in reducing the 6-18 month wait time for results from conventional labs, but also state and federal agencies. In fifteen months, the AASUPD Cyber Forensics Division conducted forensic data recovery for over 500 devices impacting over 200 federal and state criminal cases. The CFD provides both the criminal justice and computer science students with a real world practical internship under the supervision of on-duty police officers one of which is an attorney and an expert in cybercrime. Additionally, each officer has undergone extensive training in forensic data recovery. The program prepares students for the workplace with real world experience. This capability is provided at no charge to local agencies.

This prestigious award is named after Dr. Curtis McClung of Columbus, who is credited with bringing Georgia's law enforcement community into the modern era while also assisting the GACP in its pursuit of excellence, especially with respect to management training.