Multiple Arrests Made in Overnight Sobriety Checkpoints

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Douglasville’s Police Department combined their manpower and efforts to conduct sobriety checkpoints along area 92 and I-20, Chapel Hill Road and I-20, Highway 5 and I-20, and on Thornton Road on Thursday, November 29th.

Approximately 3,500 vehicles drove through the checkpoint locations. The checks lasted for five hours.  There were 38 persons arrested for various charges collectively by the DCSO and the City of Douglasville’s PD. State Probation officers also assisted with the road checks.

Both the DCSO and Douglasville PD are committed to keeping Douglas County safe throughout the year, however the holidays are prime time for drinking alcohol, and typically the busiest time of year for drunk driving arrests.

Data shows that sobriety checkpoints often lead to the detection and discovery of other criminal activity. These two law enforcement agencies in Douglas County will conduct random sobriety checkpoints throughout the holiday season and throughout the year.

According to Lt. John Jewell of the DCSO, “We want to send a message to the public and the community that driving under the influence will not be tolerated in Douglas County.”

Citizens and those travelling within the boundaries of the county it is clear that road checks are coming to town, and “tis the season to drive sober” in Douglas County.

Tips To Prevent Entering Autos

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is being proactive in the prevention of auto break-ins.  The holiday season makes for additional targeting for thieves looking to break into autos. Most break-ins are preventable.  Here are some ways you can help:

Keep your vehicle locked: This will prevent thieves from “flipping” the door handles and easily gaining entry.

Never leave valuables in plain view: If you do not want to take your valuables (purse, phones, laptop, etc.) with you, hide them in the trunk or other hard to see area (prior to reaching your destination). It may be best to take your valuables with you. Should your vehicle be broken into, you will still have your possessions. This includes firearms.

If you see something, say something: Call 911 if you see suspicious activity.

Be aware and alert: Be aware of your surrounding when out and about…and be alert. (Being on the cell phone may keep you distracted and make you a target.)

Use alarms: When walking to your vehicle alone utilize the alarm function on your key fob if confronted by a stranger.

Establish relationships with neighbors: Make your neighbors aware of when you will be away from your home during the holidays so that they may watch out for your property, remove mail and newspapers so that thieves will not notice your absence. Many break-ins have been occurring in the driveways of homes throughout the county.

Congratulations, Deputy Carter

Sheriff Tim Pounds and staff at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office would like to congratulate Deputy C. Carter on his graduation from mandate. He will be spending the next 12 weeks going through our in-house FTO program before being released to Patrol.

Visitation Officers Saved an Infant’s Life

Sheriff Tim Pounds and the DCSO is proud of the heroic efforts of Officers Brenda Jordan and Barbara Sprayberry who helped to save the life of an unresponsive one-month old boy on Friday, November 16, 2018.

A witness to the incident at the Visitation Center says the child wasn’t breathing and was unresponsive. The child’s mother was distraught and handed the baby to Officer Sprayberry who called 911, started CPR, checked the baby’s airway and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. According to the witness, the baby’s nose was bleeding and he had blood in his mouth, but she was able to get him breathing a little and he started to make quick cries. Paramedics arrived and took over. The infant was then transported to Douglas Wellstar then via Life Flight to Scottish Rite.

Jordan and Sprayberry’s quick thinking lead to what the ER doctor said, “If they had not been there and did what they did, the child would not have survived.”

The officers did everything they have been trained to do, to the best of their ability. Officer Sprayberry maintained a calm demeanor, gave clear instructions, performed CPR, informed 911 of the situation and maintained control of the environment around her. “To save a life, especially that of an infant, is the highest justification of existence, and the ultimate service to the public,” said Lt. Glenn Hensley, supervisor to the officers who have been with DCSO for almost 20 years collectively.

DCSO Receives Two GOHS Grants

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office was recently awarded two grants. The first grant for $20,000.00 will be used for traffic enforcement. The second grant for $31,110.93 was awarded to our Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) Unit.

We received the $20,000.00 grant in recognition of our lifesaving work as the coordinating agency of Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Western Regional Traffic Enforcement Network. There are sixteen traffic enforcement networks across the state that help enforce Georgia’s year-round safety belt, speed and impaired driving campaigns.

“This is our way of supporting the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office through its continued leadership via Coordinator Dep. Matt Atkins and the Western Regional traffic enforcement network,” said GOHS Law Enforcement Services Director Roger Hayes. “We want to make sure they can continue their region-wide efforts to protect Georgia motorists from drunk and otherwise dangerous drivers. They’ve proven their dedication and this grant serves not only as recognition for that hard work, but as means for continuing the GOHS mission of reducing crashes, injuries and fatalities on our roads.”

The Western Regional Traffic Enforcement Network includes law enforcement agencies in eight counties, which include Douglas, Carroll Haralson, Heard, Troup, Coweta, Meriwether, and Paulding Counties.

Sheriff Tim Pounds and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office are very pleased and appreciative to receive this grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. This grant will assist and help along with the other agencies in the Western Regional Network by keeping our roadways safe for the citizens of each county.

The GOHS grant awards $20,000.00 to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, with half to support the activities of the traffic enforcement network and half to be spent on traffic safety equipment for our agency. The coordinator in the Western Regional traffic enforcement network region will coordinate year-round waves of high visibility, concentrated patrols, multi-jurisdictional road checks and sobriety checkpoints as a partner in campaigns such as Click It or Ticket, Operation Zero Tolerance and the Thunder Taskforce.

For more information on the award, contact Dep. Matthew Atkins at 770-942-2121 or by email at matkins@sheriff.douglas.ga.us. For more information on the grant program, call 404-656-6996 or visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.

The second grant of $31,110.93 will help finance our Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) Unit. The unit is designed to educate the public and enforce laws related to impaired and aggressive driving. Each officer is armed with materials to educate Georgia residents about state laws that regulate aggressive and impaired driving. Education and enforcement must go hand-in-hand for the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and its statewide partners to be successful in reducing the number of crashes, fatalities and injuries on our highways.

The grant year for this award will be October 1 of 2018 to September 30 of 2019.

For more information on this grant program, contact GOHS at 404-656-6996 and for more information on GOHS and its other highway safety programs, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.

 

 

 

Buckle Up This Thanksgiving!

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind everyone to Buckle Up while traveling for Thanksgiving, whether you’re going around the corner or out of state.

2018 Thanksgiving Buckle Up America from the NHTSA

FACT SHEET

Thankful for Seat Belt Safety

Whether you’re traveling across town or across the country, it’s essential to always wear your seat belt.

  • Thanksgiving weekend, millions of Americans will hit the roads, eager to spend time with family and friends. It’s one of the busiest travel times of the year, and unfortunately, that means more crashes.
  • The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is reminding everyone that seat belts save lives through the campaign Buckle Up—Every Trip. Every Time. Buckling up gives the best defense against injury or death in a crash.
  • In 2016, there were 23,714 passenger vehicle occupants (in passenger cars, pickup trucks, vans, or SUVs) killed in traffic crashes in the United States. Almost half (48%) of those who were killed were not wearing their seat belts.
  • NHTSA estimates that seat belts saved the lives of 14,668 passenger vehicle occupants age 5 and older in 2016. If everyone had worn their seat belts on every trip that year, an additional 2,456 lives could have been saved.
  • The facts don’t lie: when you wear your seat belt as a front-seat occupant of a passenger car, your risk of fatal injury goes down by 45 percent. For light-truck occupants, that risk is reduced by 60 percent.
  • Young people continue to be over-represented in fatal crashes and seat belt non-use. Among the passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2016, occupants 13-15 and 25-34 years old were unrestrained at a rate of 62 and 59 percent, respectively.
  • Males are more likely than females to be unrestrained in fatal crashes. Fifty-two percent of the male passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2016 were unrestrained, compared with 40 percent of females.
  • If you’re ejected from a vehicle in a crash, odds are that you will not survive. In 2016, 8 out of 10 (81%) of the people totally ejected from vehicles in crashes were killed. Wearing your seat belt is the most effective way to prevent ejection; only 1 percent of occupants wearing seat belts were ejected in fatal crashes, compared to 29 percent of those who were unrestrained.

Make this Thanksgiving different from years past.

  • During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 2016 (6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 23th, to 5:59 a.m. on Monday, November 28th), there were 341 passenger vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes across the nation.
  • Tragically, 49 percent of those killed were not buckled up, representing an increase in seat belt use compared to the same weekend in 2015, when 52 percent of those killed in traffic crashes were unrestrained.
  • Nighttime is deadlier than daytime in terms of seat belt use. Over the 2016 Thanksgiving weekend, 55 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes at night were unbuckled, compared to 39 percent during the day.
  • Surviving your Thanksgiving drive this year—and making it to next Thanksgiving—can be as simple as buckling up. In the last decade, seat belts have saved the lives of more than 100,000 people in the United States. Those people are thankful they wore their seat belts. Won’t you wear yours? Buckle Up—Every Trip. Every Time.

Drive safely this Thanksgiving. For more information, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/seat-belts.

 

DCSO Service Members and Veterans’ Pinning Ceremony

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office proudly honored its brotherhood of service members and veterans during a pinning ceremony Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 at 10am. Sheriff Tim Pounds honored the men and women with US Military lapel pins that they will wear on their Class A and B uniforms. The small token will be worn daily and could help to foster connections between the officers and citizen veterans they encounter daily.

There is a total of 77 service members and veterans that serve with the DCSO. These men and women have served a combined total of 630 years in military service to our country. Forty have served in the U.S. Army; six with the U.S. Navy; 17 with the U.S. Marines; five with the U.S. Air Force; and nine with the National Guard.

The following Douglas County Sheriff’s Office personnel have served in the armed forces:

  • Deputy Richard Aiken (Air Force)
  • Sergeant Ken Aycock (Marines)
  • Deputy James Barber (Marines)
  • Deputy Chris Bass (Army)
  • Jailer Joseph Bires (Marines)
  • Officer Brian Bozeman (Army)
  • Lieutenant Ross Brown (Army)
  • Captain Ron Cain (Air Force)
  • Bailiff Euriel Campbell (Army)
  • Deputy Tony Carr (Marines)
  • Deputy Anthony Cassity (Army)
  • Sergeant Chuck Catlin (Army)
  • Deputy Jeff Catron (Navy)
  • Officer Jeong Chun (Marines/National Guard)
  • Bailiff Charlie Clonts (Army)
  • Investigator David Cockrum (Army)
  • Master Sergeant Andy Cooke (Army)
  • Officer Clint Crumley (Marines)
  • Deputy Chris Ernst (Army)
  • Deputy Chris Fields (National Guard)
  • Deputy Thomas Floyd (Marines)
  • Investigator Hosea Gainer (Army)
  • Investigator Erin Garner (National Guard)
  • Officer Zachary Geldmeier (Army)*
  • Sergeant Derrick Goode (Marines)
  • Officer Darryl Green (Marines)
  • Deputy David Greer (Marines)
  • Captain Jamie Harrell (Army)
  • Officer Jeff Hawes (Army)
  • Investigator Jay Hayes (Marines)
  • Deputy Rodney Hendrix (Army)
  • Lt. Dennis Howard (Army)
  • Sergeant Jacquie Jewell (Army)
  • Investigator Kevin Jones (Marines)
  • Deputy Richard LaPoint (Marines)
  • Deputy Jeff Lentz (Army)
  • Sergeant Josh Lipscomb (Army)
  • Investigator James Little (Air Force)
  • Deputy Vanessa Love (Army)
  • Deputy Michael Manson (National Guard)
  • Deputy Rafael Martinez (Army)
  • Deputy Herman McCuller (Army)
  • Deputy Carl McKinley (Army)
  • Deputy Jeff Merck (Army)
  • Deputy J.P. Miller (Marines)
  • Jailer James Mitchell (Army)
  • Lieutenant Charlie Mitchell (Army)
  • Deputy Jeremiah Montgomery (Army)
  • Deputy Steve Moore (Navy)
  • Bailiff Pete Mordensky (Air Force)
  • Colonel Doug Oliver (Navy)
  • Lieutenant Donnie Parker (National Guard)
  • Investigator Rodney Pettaway (Army)
  • Deputy Thomas Puckett (Navy)
  • Deputy Craig Ramirez (Army)
  • Deputy Thomas Ray (Army)
  • Deputy Deon Ray (National Guard)
  • Sergeant Anne Rice (Marines)
  • Officer Bryntyn Russell (Army)
  • Deputy Timothy Sagoes (Army)/(Marines)
  • Lieutenant T.C. Scott (Army)
  • Deputy Charles Sharpe (National Guard)
  • Deputy Steve Simpson (Army)
  • Deputy Aaron Smith (Army)
  • Deputy Gordon Sonderegger (Air Force)
  • Civilian Jacob Sweat (Marines)
  • Bailiff Tommy Thompson (Army)
  • Captain Allen Watkins (Marines)
  • Deputy Kenneth Watts (Army)
  • Bailiff Bob Weaver (Marines)
  • Deputy Recruit William Womack (Army)
  • Deputy Keith Wood (Army)
  • Deputy Bryan Wood (Navy)
  • Investigator Melinda Wright (Army)
  • Officer Darrel Wright (Army)

*Currently on active deployment

View the pinning ceremony video on Facebook:

Welcome, K9 Copper!

Sheriff Tim Pounds and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office have noticed a significant increase in the number of missing persons, especially amongst the elderly with Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia and children (especially with autism). Since Sheriff Pounds took office in January, 2017, there have been 475 missing/runaway persons. Out of those approximately 37 were disabled children and adults. Only five of those cases remain open which are all runaway juveniles where no foul play is suspected.

Some of these were large scale searches that involved multi-jurisdictional responses and resources. In some of these cases a well trained bloodhound could have expedited the efforts in locating these individuals.

“Copper,” a blood hound graciously donated by two local breeders, Cody Sparks and Rebecca Myers will be trained in tracking children and Alzheimer’s/dementia patients in the efforts to assist with locating missing persons. Donated at 13 weeks old, Copper will also be trained in public relations and used in S.C.O.P.E. (Sheriff’s Community Outreach Program & Education) activities.

DCSO’s K-9 Unit provides teams of highly trained canines and handlers for the purpose of protecting citizens and enhancing the safety of fellow law enforcement officers. The Sheriff’s K-9 Unit aspires to relate, in a positive manner, with the general public, maintain a professional image, and to constantly strive to increase the efficiency and productivity of the Unit through continuous training.

Sheriff Pounds is dedicated to serving and protecting our community as he has done for the people of Douglas County for more than 40 years.

Man Arrested After Drug Tip

The Sheriff’s office Special Investigations Unit received information in late September, that a Justin Bryant was selling methamphetamine in Douglas County Georgia.  

Agents working the investigation were able to make methamphetamine purchases from Bryant on two separate occasions during the month of October. One of the purchases occurred on Thornton Rd and the other on Post Rd.  After the second purchase, members of the Sheriff’s Office Crime Suppression Unit and SCORPION Unit conducted a traffic stop on Bryant and took him into custody. Methamphetamine and other narcotics related items were located in his possession. He was taken to the Douglas County Jail where he was charged with the following offenses:  

Justin Bryant: Sales of Methamphetamine 2 counts, Use of a Communication Device to Facilitate a Felony 2 counts, Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Marijuana Less Than One Ounce and Possession of Drug Related Objects.  

He is currently being held with no bond. 

 

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to Hold Pinning Ceremony for Service Members and Veteran Officers

Thursday, November 8, 2018 at 10:00AM, Sheriff Tim Pounds and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office will hold a pinning ceremony for veteran officers at the DCSO Complex, located at 8470 Earl D. Lee Blvd., Douglasville, GA 30134.  

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is proud to recognize and honor its brotherhood of service members and veterans with US Military lapel pins. The officers will wear them on their Class A and B uniforms.  There is a total of 77 service members and veterans that serve with the DCSO. These men (and women) have served a combined total of 630 years in military service to our country.   Forty have served in the United States Army; six with the branch of the Navy; 17 with the  Marines;  five with the Air Force; and nine are National Guard veterans.

The Pinning Ceremony will pay tribute to these service members and veterans and honor the Veteran’s Day holiday. The DCSO is blessed, honored, and proud to have these men (and women) serve as officers. Their service to our country and locally is not taken lightly. These men and women have trained and served on the front lines of war and now risk their lives daily to protect and serve the citizens of Douglas County.  Unfortunately, every day, these officers encounter citizen veterans. It is with great hope and anticipation as these great men (and women) are pinned, the small token will also be a unique symbol that helps to bring familiarity and connection during the encounters with their shared brotherhood of Service Members and bridge a gap in the relationship between officers and veteran citizens.   

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is dedicated to making Douglas County a safe place to work, live and play.

For more information about the pinning ceremony please contact: Joy Pounds at 770-577-5104 or via email: jvpounds@sheriff.douglas.ga.us.

 

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