JASON CRIPPS better than I found it”

By Tom Spigolon tspigolon@covnews.com

Jason Cripps says he couldn’t have achieved what he’s done both professionally and personally for the past 23 years without one person: his wife.

Cripps has served as chief of the Porterdale Police Department since 2014.

He is credited with being among those city officials who helped change the public view of the historic mill town from that of a decaying crime den to one that’s encouraging investment in new construction and redevelopment of the decades-old homes and downtown area.

Another way Cripps believes he’s helped improve the town’s quality of life is the variety of events he and wife Holly have founded or fostered primarily for young residents.

He said he has done it for a simple reason.

“There’s nothing here for kids,” he said. “The key to success is to buy into the kids’ future.”

Cripps is a native of England whose family moved to America when his father’s British employer, a copy machine company, was sold to an American firm.

After moving to Rochester, New York, and Clearwater, Florida, the family settled in Cobb County where Cripps graduated from Sprayberry High School.

He began his law enforcement career with the Porterdale Police Department in 2000 and served from 2003 to 2008 with the East Point PD.

After returning to the Porterdale PD in 2008, he worked as an officer for six years before being promoted to chief in 2014.

He also worked with a number of K-9 officers, including Beau for which a city dog park is named.

In 2012, Cripps was voted a “Hometown Hero” by The Covington News readers after he rescued a man from the icy waters of the Yellow River despite the man threatening to kill Cripps.

He and his wife have hosted a Halloween festival and helped organize the town’s Christmas parade for more than a decade. Cripps also is a major part of Porterdale’s annual Fourth of July celebration.

If that’s not enough, he organized an annual kickball game and festival in which young attendees play in a game and learn about public safety by seeing police vehicles, fire trucks and EMS ambulances. Free hot dogs were available and live music was featured.

Cripps noted he grew up with such close-by attractions for young people as Six Flags Whitewater in Cobb County. No such amenities are available for young people in Porterdale, he said.

In 2010, Mr. and Mrs. Cripps established the We Ride to Provide nonprofit that raises funds for supplies for the dogs and an annual ceremony event honoring K-9 officers that either died or were injured in the line of duty.

During the ceremony at Porter Memorial Gym in Porterdale, about 100 K-9 officers and their handlers are honored for their duty and service to a multitude of local, state, federal, and foreign law enforcement agencies.

The memorial is the only one of its kind in the U.S. It annually attracts police dog handlers from throughout the U.S. and, this year, from as far away as Switzerland, Jason Cripps said.

He said Mrs. Cripps suggested creation of the nonprofit after seeing that many governments do not provide basic supplies for their K-9 officers.

“Holly said if we don’t do something for the dogs, people will never know they were here,” he said.

Cripps said he’d like to see more participation in the holiday events he helps organize.

He said he has tried to improve the quality of life in the historic mill town which formerly was the economic engine of Newton County.

“I want to leave Porterdale better than I found it,” he said.