2022 Heroes Among Us

HEROES

Among Us

Coweta Sheriff’s deputies train for the worst case scenario

EMA/911 is ground zero for emergencies large and small

School resource officers crucial part of safety plan

Honoring our fallen: Gutierrez, Callaway and Tostenson

Peer support helps Coweta’s public safety officers

COVER PHOTO BY DYLAN DEPRIEST

How blessed we are to live here in Coweta County—truly, Home of the Brave! We have so many dedicated men and women who often risk their lives to take care of the citizens who live and work here. There are many heroes here, and it is a privilege to honor them and show appreciation to them.

Looking at this newspaper twice a week, we see photos of our “heroes” as they fight crime, fight the fires, guard our homes, take care of our children, work the wrecks, and on and on. It takes special people to do what they do day in and day out, holidays and nights.

We need to give them as many benefits as we possibly can, and we need to pay them so that they don’t feel the need to work two jobs to support their loved ones. Every morning, I lift them up in prayer because I know that

when they leave their homes to go to their jobs, their families pray that they will return to them.

Some years ago, I wanted to show appreciation for these “heroes”, and the Newnan Coweta Public Safety Foundation was formed. What a joy it has been for us to be able to help these “heroes” and their families. Relieving some of the stress in their lives by helping them with medical expenses, funeral expenses, scholarships for their children and other expenses has been a blessing for us.

Supplying equipment for them to help them in their duties and protect them when the money is not in the agency budget has been another joy for the Foundation. Our Foundation is funded solely by our citizens who so generously donate without a fundraiser or anything other than a thank you. There are no administration costs. Every dime goes to help these deserving “heroes.”

Twenty four years ago, some of us wanted

to show our appreciation in a special way, so the annual Newnan Coweta Public Safety Appreciation Luncheon was organized.

The Committee, along with our elected officials and our dear generous citizens, delight in getting all of the public safety personnel together for a delicious lunch, out-ofthis world desserts and great fellowship with each other.

There is no program. We just want our men and women to enjoy each other in a happy way and to know that they are very much appreciated and loved.

May God bless them and keep them safe always. They are truly our Heroes.

-Norma Haynes

PHOTO BY CLAY NEELY

Members of the Newnan Coweta Public Safety Foundation prepare for the annual luncheon to honor all public safety employees who work in the community. From left are Pat Craven, Earlene Scott, Linda Kelly, Beth Headley, Norma Haynes, Lisa Hines, Jacki Parker and Jim McGuffey.

Every morning, I lift them up in prayer because I know that when they leave their homes to go to their jobs, their families pray that they will return to them.

‘We train until you can’t get it wrong’

Coweta Sheriff’s deputies train for the worst case scenario

BY JOE ADGIE joe@newnan.com

A gunman stands watch outside the old Newnan Hospital. Another gunman is inside. There are hostages, and there are victims inside.

Coweta County Sheriff’s Depu ties arrive on the scene, taking cover behind their cars, then neutralizing the first gunman. With that threat out of the way, the deputies look for a way to go inside.

Eventually, they find a way and make it in safely. A brief struggle ensues inside, and the other gunman is taken care of. Meanwhile, a multitude of Coweta County deputies surround the perimeter, making sure none of the sus pects get out.

This, of course, was part of an exer cise, to make sure Coweta County dep uties are prepared for the real thing.

For the last couple of weeks, the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office has been engaging in training that they call

PHOTO BY JOE ADGIE

In the midst of the pouring rain, Coweta County Sheriff’s deputies take cover behind a squad car, waiting for an opening to move towards the scene.

ACTIVE SHOOTER

From page 3

“stress inoculation.”

But for most of the public, the training being held at the old Newnan Hospital is active shooter

training.

“We try to introduce as much stress as realistically possible, not just for the sake of stressing them out, but to get their brain used to being in this situation. God forbid, if it ever happens, you’ve done everything you can do,” said Inv. Toby Nix, public information officer for the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office. “We re-create the scenario, so when it does happen, your mind has been there. Your body can’t go where your mind hasn’t been.”

Major Warren Campbell explained how the Sheriff’s Office conducts the training, to make sure deputies know what to do, when they need

the scenario, so when it does happen, your mind to do it.

“We don’t train until you get it right. We train until you can’t get it wrong,” Campbell said. “We’re going to keep training and keep training until you literally can’t get it wrong because you’ve done it so many times. You wake up in the morning and you brush your teeth. Do you get that wrong? How many times have you done it? Thousands and thousands of times. We can’t replicate thousands, but we’ll keep doing it until you can’t get it wrong.”

“That’s the way we try to do it. I’ve been doing a lot of training with him, and that’s not just something he says; that’s something we do,” Nix said. “You’ll see how many times they’ll run through a scenario, how many times they do whatever; they train until they can’t get it wrong. We’ve got to make life-altering decisions in a split second. You have to be comfortable in your training.”

Training to reduce the “fight-or-flight” mentality

Campbell explained how the training helps officers get used to scenarios such as this, so they are able to think clearly when their lives, and the lives of others, depend on it.

“What we’re fighting is a bunch of physiological factors,” Campbell said. “When the sympathetic nervous system kicks in for fight or flight, you have a lot of physiological factors, like increased heart rate, sweating, heavy breathing, high blood pressure, you have auditory exclusion, visual exclusion, stress, you have time lapses getting to slow down. I’m fighting for my life or I’m running for my life, so the body begins to shut some stuff down. So you can’t think very clearly.”

Campbell said that the training inoculates law

Sheriff’s deputies take cover behind a truck, waiting for the right time to pounce.

PHOTOS BY JOE ADGIE

Sheriff’s deputies rush towards the scene.

HEROES AMONG US 2022

ACTIVE SHOOTER

enforcement officers in the same types of stressors that they may see in the field, so their fight-or-flight defense mechanism is not triggered as much.

“You get to see things and hear things that they normally wouldn’t hear when fight or flight kicks in, so they can process information, make better decisions and make different decisions than they would, because they were fearful, they were sweat ing,” Campbell said.

“The best way we say this is, ‘Don’t let your first time be your first time,’” he said. “The first time you have to draw and discharge your weapon should not be out there in the field. You should have seen it so many times that that’s the level of force that was reasonable and justified, because the circumstances dictated it, not because I was fearful, I didn’t see some things I couldn’t process.”

Active shooter drills help police understand locations as well

Active shooter drills have taken place at the old Newnan Hospital, where the Sheriff’s Office has used different parts of the hospital for a variety of purposes.

Campbell said trainees will walk down the hallway, walk 25 feet, shoot a sim gun and breathe heavy out of stress.

“They’ve done nothing but walk down the hallway and put 5 ½ pounds on the trigger squeeze, because those physiological effects of stress kick in,” Campbell said. “We’re literally inoc ulating them with all those factors.”

With the training, Campbell said officers and deputies can go into high-stress situations, think clearly and use what they learned in train ing exercises, rather than try to think about what they need to do while cop ing with the fight-or-flight defense mechanism.

“You can open up and do something different for each floor,” said Sgt. Nathan Mullennix. “Active shooter in labor delivery. Active shooter in the morgue, the basement, the park ing lot, the emergency room. You can turn a wing into administrative offices, a bank. This building has an unlimited supply of things you can do.”

The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office has been conducting these active shooter drills since 2015 at a variety of locations, including East Coweta High School, Northgate High School, Trinity Christian School and the Heritage School, among others.

As a side benefit for the active

A deputy helps an off-camera deputy who has been shot in the leg.

From page 5 shooter training scenarios, law enforcement officers are able to fig ure out the layouts of the facilities, just in case a situation would take place at one of those locations.

Sgt. Drew Moorman said active shooter drills have gone from schools to other locations as shoot ing incidents have gone to a variety of locations over the years.

“When active shooter first got to be a big thing, Columbine first set it off,” Moorman said. “The very beginnings of active shooters were school-related. That’s when you saw a lot of school shootings; they were the focus. What we’re seeing now adays, schools are like armed for tresses, and so your active shooter situations aren’t taking place at schools anymore. Your active shooter situations are your dis gruntled employees, people look ing to harm other people, your tar geted areas, hospitals, places where

there’s mass gatherings where they can harm as many people as fast as they can.”

The training was more than just handling active shooter drills. Dep uties took part in training to help breach doors and barriers, apply tourniquets to stop bleeding, pack wounds and perform life saving duties in case they are needed.

Those skills, and more, can be used in more than just an active shooter drill, as well. Deputies may need to arrive in a house for a med ical emergency, or save someone’s life in the aftermath of a serious automobile accident.

“Say you’re trying to breach a house for a medical emergency,” said Sgt. David Hill. “You’ve got to get in the house and the fire depart ment’s coming in from wherever. A lot of this stuff will carry over into not just active shooters, but stuff they use every single day.”

About time to act. Deputies wait for the right time to storm in and take down the suspect.

VFW Post 2667 first responders win at State

At the recent VFW mid-winter conference, law enforcement, fire and EMT first place win ners from VFW Post 2667 were awarded first place at the state level. There are 94 VFW posts in the state of Georgia.

First place winner for law

enforcement was Sgt. Brian Hodges of the Newnan Police Department.

First place winner for firefighter was Donald "Bubba" Hammond with Coweta County Fire Rescue. His wife, Shannon, and daughters, Kristian Flinn and Kayleigh Ham mond, were present to receive his

award posthumously.

First place winner for EMT was Lieutenant/Paramedic FTO Pat rick Gutierrez, Coweta County Fire Rescue.

From left are VFW Post 2667 Commander Jeff Bouchard, Brian Hodges, Patrick Gutierrez VFW Post 2667 member Bob Ward,

VFW Post 2667 Quartermaster Doug Roberson, Kristian Flinn, Kayleigh Hammond, Shannon Hammond, VFW Post 2667 Junior Vice Kelli Kelley, VFW Post 2667 Senior Vice John Skinner and VFW Post 2667 Member & State Quartermaster Jeff Carroll.

HEROES AMONG

Emergency assistance coming to a golf hole near you

BY JOE ADGIE joe@newnan.com

In the next few months, golfers requesting emergency assistance in Coweta County will be able to inform first responders their loca tion more accurately.

The Coweta County 911/Emer gency Management department has been working on a project to include geotrackers to every hole at each of the county’s five golf courses. Nic Burgess, the EMA coordinator for the county, said the point of the project is about being “as proactive as we can pos sibly be.”

“When you call 911, and you call with whatever the issue may be, you give the dispatcher your address, and the address is at the golf course,” Burgess said. “Many

golf courses are quite large with a lot of property. The point of the project is to see on the map which tee box a caller may be at.”

Consequently, with the new geo trackers in place, a golfer working the 11th hole of the White Oak Golf Club, finding himself with a health issue, can inform emer gency responders of his location on the 11th hole of White Oak.

The geotrackers will be located on the tee boxes of each of Coweta County’s golf courses.

The new geotrackers, as a result, will allow emergency responders to act quicker and respond easier in the event of such an emergency.

In addition, the geotrackers will be able to provide a distinction between one course or another. For instance, the Canongate I golf course in Sharpsburg is 36 holes

in total, with two 18-hole golf courses on the property.

So, for instance, if a golfer needs assistance on the 8th hole at Canongate I, emergency respond ers might have issues determining which 8th hole golfer is located.

However, Burgess said since the majority of holes in Coweta County are named, they were able to use those names and properly differentiate one 8th hole from another. Consequently, if a golfer needs assistance on one course, emergency responders will be able to travel to the correct hole to pro vide that assistance.

Burgess said that there have been cases in the past where peo ple have suffered health issues that required immediate medical atten tion. One such instance involved a golfer suffering a heart attack on

the course.

The next step for the project is to send the geotracker data off to CentralSquare, which works with Coweta County for their Com puter-Aided Dispatch system. According to Burgess, once their work is completed, the geotrack ers will be put online and ready for the moment a golfer may need that assistance on the course.

Burgess said he and the EMA department are grateful for the assistance of Coweta’s five golf courses: White Oak, Canongate, Summergrove, Newnan and Arbor Springs.

“They were very nice to work with and very welcoming,” Bur gess said. “We were able to use their golf carts and ride the course to do all the locations. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Coweta County’s five golf courses, including the Newnan Country Club, have been fitted with geotrackers at each hole, which will allow emergency responders the ability to know a more exact location for an emergency.

Detention Officer Melvin Cameron was awarded the National Institute for Jail Operations “Officer of the Year.” From left are Sheriff Lenn Wood, Cameron, Major Eric Smith and Captain Morgan Stephenson.

School resource

o cers crucial part of safety plan for Coweta schools

BY REBECCA LEFTWICH becky@newnan.com

They’re in their 40s now, most with children of their own, but the students who were under the watchful eye of then-School Resource Officer Lenn Wood in the 1990s haven’t forgotten him. It was the early years of the

PHOTO BY CHRIS MARTIN Student Resource Officer Adam Elbrecht helps motivate students engaged in a tug-of-war battle during field day at Blake Bass Middle School.

SCHOOLS

From page

SRO program in the Coweta County School System, but Wood – now Coweta County Sheriff – said his for mer students still have a smile and a hug for him when they cross paths.

And building those kinds of positive relationships has remained at the heart of the SRO program these days as well.

“Not everybody can be an SRO,” Wood said. “Not everybody is equipped to be an SRO. Relationships aren’t something you go into a school and just have. You have to build them and con stantly work on them.”

Wood served as president of the Georgia Association of School Resource Officers for several years and, along with Major Stephen Crook, has helped create the SRO train ing required of the officers who are assigned to each school in the Coweta County School System.

But before they can become an SRO,

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PHOTO BY CHRIS MARTIN

Student Resource Officer Adam Elbrecht participates in a balloon toss during Blake Bass Middle School’s field day on Friday.

• 14

SCHOOLS

From page 12

they have to become a law enforce ment officer. Each SRO is mandated and sworn, and each has actually worked in the field.

“They come off patrol or out of investigations,” Wood said. “They all come from law enforcement duties before they become an SRO. And they have to apply for the job. They have to want the job, they have to be interviewed by the SRO unit com manders, and they have to have the right demeanor to work at a particu lar school. Dealing with elementary is totally different from high school, and middle school is different from both.”

They come from the CCSO and from the Newnan and Grantville police departments, and the cost of their salaries and equipment are shared between their agencies and the school system. They are pres ent in each school every day, fully

trained and in full uniform, and they report directly to their respective commanders.

“They are there because they want to be there,” Wood said. “They love working with the kids.

“But they also have the ability and training to handle situations when they come up,” he added.

‘What can we do to prevent it here?’

After Tuesday’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where a teenager killed 19 students and two teachers, Wood said he sat through hours of televi sion news coverage of the event.

“It traumatizes everybody,” he said. “At times we just want to cry. But the reason we watch it is that we don’t want it to happen here. So we try to see what happened to cause it, and we ask ourselves what we can do before it gets to that point, so we can prevent it.”

Active shooter scenarios are held each summer after school is out,

with SROs, law enforcement agen cies, school administrators and even teachers training through different scenarios in empty school buildings.

“Everything we do, we do in coop eration with the schools,” Wood said. “When we do active shooter train ing, we have teachers there so they understand what we’re doing.”

SROs from different agencies plan community-based events together to build camaraderie among the mem bers of their unique brotherhood, but safety is always on their minds.

While the SWAT Team may have knowledge of a school layout in case of emergency, the SRO is going to be the one who makes first con tact if there’s ever an active shooter situation.

“Our SROs are trained to con front (a threat) as soon as possible, stopping him if they can or contain ing him in a certain area of a school or building if no one else is in dan ger,” Wood said. “But if there are people being threatened, people in

The Coweta Cities & County EFCU would like to thank Captain Travis Hall, his fellow City & County Firefi ghters, all our First Responders, 911 Operators, and especially our Healthcare Workers as they work tirelessly to serve and protect the residents of Newnan and Coweta County.

We would also like to thank Capt. Hall for volunteering to serve on the Board of Directors since 2015. It’s volunteers like Travis dedicated to our community that make the di erence at Coweta Cities & County Employees Federal Credit Union.

PHOTO BY BETH NEELY

Student Resource Officer Jimmy Price joins students in a conga line after getting “Rick Rolled” during lunch on Friday.

James Patrick Callaway

February 1, 1975 ~ August 8, 2022

Former Coweta County sheriff can didate James “Jimmy” Callaway passed away unexpectedly at age 47.

Callaway reportedly was found dead of natural causes during a law enforce ment conference in Savannah.

Callaway served as chief of police for The Morrow Police Department from 2016-20.

Callaway, a Senoia resident, was the Director of State Investigations for the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council at the time of his death.

Prior to joining MPD in 2006, Call away served with the Rockdale County

HEROES AMONG US 2022

Honoring the Fallen

Frankie Anibal Gutierrez

July 29, 1975 - September 2, 2021

Newnan Police Officer Frankie Gui terrez passed away at 46 years old after battling complications from COVID-19.

Guiterrez had recently taken a posi tion as a School Resource Officer at Welch Elementary School so he could spend more time with his wife and new baby.

He has three other children: Frankie Jr., Nathaniel and Victoria.

“I have the deepest respect and admi

ration for our community’s law enforce ment officers, and for those like offi cer Gutierrez who step forward to serve directly with our staff and students as School Resource Officers. My sympa thy and prayers are with Officer Gutier rez’s family, and with his fellow officers and the Newnan Police Department," said superintendent Evan Horton.

Gutierrez was born in Brooklyn, New York, and served for five years in the U.S. Army. He began his law enforce ment career in Savannah, Georgia.

He worked at the Hidalgo Sheriff's Office in Texas as a detention officer and joined the Edinburg Police Depart ment in Texas, as well.

Before joining the Newnan Police Department in 2018, Gutierrez worked at the Greenville and Hogansville police departments, and served as the Chief of Police in Warm Springs.

Both Blankenship and Meadows said what they'd remember most about Guti errez is his smile.

"He always had a smile and laughed," Blankenship said. "He lit up every room he walked in. He was great with our community. He's the officer you want with you anywhere."

"He always had that smile no matter if it was a bad day or a rainy day," Mead ows said.

Sheriff’s Office and the MARTA Police Department. He also had been presi dent of the Georgia Gang Investiga tors’ Association since 2017.

In 2018, Callaway announced his candidacy for Coweta County sheriff after longtime Sheriff Mike Yeager was appointed U.S. marshal. He lost to cur rent Sheriff Lenn Wood in 2019.

Wood said he’d never met Callaway until the election, but the two began talking regularly during that period and formed a “cherished friendship.”

“Chief Callaway was always willing to listen and share his knowledge and experience with anyone who asked of him,” Wood said. “He cared about each and everyone in our profession, and about the profession as a whole.”

The sheriff said Callaway’s death is an enormous loss.

“Our community has lost a true gen tleman with a devoted servant’s heart,” Wood said. “Law enforcement has lost a tremendous advocate and a loving brother. He was a voice for everyone in this profession. His family has lost a loving husband and proud father. I grieve with his family. I grieve with law enforcement. I grieve with our community.

“May you rest in peace, brother,” he added. “We have your back and will help your family any way we can.”

Richard L. (Ricky) Tostenson

March 2, 1970 - January 6, 2022

Officer Ricky Tostenson, school resource officer at Evans Middle School, passed away after battling COVID-19.

“He is a beloved member of the Newnan Police Department,” said Chief Brent Blankenship “Ricky truly loved working with kids and enjoyed his job every day.”

Tostenson served in law enforcement for 18 years, the last 10 with the Newnan Police Department. Blankenship said Tostenson worked NPD patrol for nine years and helped train new recruits

before accepting an opportunity to move into the department’s SRO Unit.

“‘We will miss him,” Blankenship said.

Tostenson had been assigned to Evans since early August 2021, and Blanken ship said it is a “bright spot” to know the veteran officer had found his calling as an SRO.

“He was really good with kids,” Blan kenship said. “He enjoyed working at Evans and being a mentor. He just lit up when he was there.”

A husband and father, Tostenson was affectionately known as “Officer T” to the students and staff at Evans. His influence could be felt despite the rela tively short time he served as the school’s SRO, Blankenship said.

“He made a big impact at that school in a short period of time, and that says a lot about his character,” the chief said. “Probably in his whole career with us, I’ve never seen him happier than this year when he was at Evans.”

Coweta County School Superin tendent Evan Horton said Tostenson was an integral member of the school’s community.

“The kids and staff members of Evans Middle School absolutely loved him, and he loved them,” Horton said. “He will be greatly missed. My sympathy and my prayers are with Officer Tostenson's family, and with his fellow officers at the Newnan Police Department.”

SCHOOLS

From page 14

danger of being hurt, we are going to take care of the situation. We are not going to allow anyone to get hurt.”

Local law enforcement and Coweta County School System officials hold safety meetings at regular intervals, reviewing and modifying safety plans for each school.

Parkland incident accelerates security upgrades

The SRO program, first established in Coweta Schools in the 1990s, had grown gradually – until Valentine’s Day 2018, when a man gunned down 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Doug las High School in Parkland, Florida.

The next week, a series of incidents in Coweta schools resulted in the arrests of several students on charges ranging from terroristic threats and acts to carrying a gun in school. As a result, safety and security updates in local schools were expedited.

“The school system, which had many security elements in place already, and plans to expand them, immediately began a review of exist ing school security features,” said Dean Jackson, public information offi cer for Coweta Schools.

Full security systems with secure vestibules, or “visitor traps,” addi tional security cameras and Centegix alert systems were approved for all schools by the Coweta County Board of Education.

Additionally, then-Superinten dent Steve Barker requested that the board support working with local law enforcement agencies to quickly expand the SRO program to ensure an officer was assigned to each school. At that time, elementary schools shared SROs.

“That expansion was fully realized by the start of the 2018-19 school year,” Jackson said, noting that cur rent Superintendent Evan Horton served as administrator over student and school safety measures at the time.

The Coweta County School System

HEROES AMONG

now has at least one SRO assigned to each of its schools, including an addi tional officer who was approved for the Central Educational Center after Newnan High School freshmen were relocated to Cougar Village at CEC because of tornado damage to the main campus.

At school safety meetings held before the start of each school year, officers discuss changes over the past year, and they are “constantly reeval uating the plans we have,” Wood said.

Connecting in a different way

And while SROs can be taught to deescalate situations, conduct schoolbased investigations and even assess whether a person may be carrying a weapon by watching their gait and mannerisms, other important aspects of their job can’t be taught.

“SROs become so involved with students that during their time off, they’re doing things like attending ball games,” Wood said. “It becomes a way of life, and that’s not a bad thing. A lot of these kids may not have good stable homes, or may have absent par ents, and SROs can connect to those kids in a different way. (The officers) are there because they want to be there.”

That means school officers are not just onlookers, but part of the schools they serve – participants in activities like field days, holiday and end-ofschool parties, awards ceremonies and read-aloud sessions.

“Our SROs are not trained to do that, but they become so involved with the students and faculty that it becomes a big family,” he said. “So then if something bad ever happens, they’re more than happy to defend and protect their family.”

Wood said Coweta’s SROs program is a source of pride, not just because of the training system he and Crook have helped develop, but because of the offi cers who help keep schools safe.

“We know the caliber of people we are looking for, and they fit the bill,” he said. “They make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep schools safe so they can do one thing, and that’s to keep learning. That’s what it’s all about.”

PHOTO BY BETH NEELY

Student Resource Officer Jimmy Price.

PHOTO BY CHRIS MARTIN

Student Resource Officer Adam Elbrecht lends a team a hand for tug-of-war during Blake Bass Middle School’s field day on Friday.

Helping the helpers

Peer support helps Coweta’s public safety officers deal with trauma

BY JOE ADGIE joe@newnan.com

Public safety officials, be it those that work in the police, fire depart ments, the medical field or dispatchers, are helpers. They help people in their time of need, when they need someone to turn to for help.

But what happens when the helpers need help themselves?

With the trauma that public safety deals with on a regular basis, it’s hard for them to seek help with someone that may not understand their posi tion. So various public safety person nel have taken it upon themselves to help each other, people that under

stand each other and the unique cir cumstances they face on a daily basis.

In Coweta County, members of the Sheriff’s Office and the Fire Depart ment and E-911, along with Newnan’s Police and Fire departments work together to support each other in the face of trauma and in the face of per sonal difficulties.

Robby Flanagan, chief of the Coweta County Fire Department, said pub lic safety agencies have great support from those in Coweta County, but pub lic safety officers find it hard to reach out to others when they face personal difficulties.

PHOTO BY JOE ADGIE

Public safety officers in Coweta County have become trained to support their peers in the aftermath of traumatic events, in an effort to help them process the situation and continue on with their job. Pictured are Chris Sims and Matt Camp of the Coweta County Fire Department; Renee Edwards of the Newnan Police Department; Chief Robby Flanagan of the Coweta County Fire Department; Eric Smith of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office; Michaella Proctor of the Newnan Police Department; and Russell Shoemake of Coweta Cares.

HELPING

From page 18

“They’re the ones that take care of everyone on the inside,” Flana gan said of peer support. “They have to make the right decisions at the right time within fractions of a sec ond. I’m proud to be able to support the peer support group, because just having that ability and that out reach allows people to continue their job for the longevity and day to day.”

Peer support: preventing posttraumatic stress from becoming a disorder

The idea behind the peer support programs is to help public safety officers process a traumatic situa tion they have encountered, and to allow public safety officers to handle it before it becomes a problem that could impact their work.

Chris Sims of the Coweta County Fire Department spoke extensively about the necessity of these peer support programs for the county’s public safety departments.

“Our initial goal was to have a peer support team within the fire department, and I recognized the need for it in every agency in Coweta,” Sims said.

“So at that point, I reached out to all the department heads and said we were going to host this class, and it grew from there.”

There are now trained members in the Coweta County’s Fire Depart ment and Sheriff’s Office, as well as Newnan’s Fire Department, Police Department and 911 departments.

“We all operate our own teams within our own department, and if there’s a large-scale incident, we can all pull together; we’re all trained to the same levels and same certifications.”

Sims said the training received by peer support personnel allows them to recognize crises and the signs and symptoms of traumatic events, as

HEROES AMONG US 2022

well as to recognize when people are having issues dealing with difficult situations.

“It gave us the training, number one, to help defuse those situations and gave us a lot of resources on how we need to locate professional coun selors, professional psychiatric help, and we were able to bridge the gap between that,” Sims said.

Sims said that any kind of incident can trigger a traumatic response.

trigger an automatic response, including scenes “that we know are traumatic,” Sims said, includ ing anything with children and mass casualty incidents.

Earlier this year, Maj. Eric Smith of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office lost three family members in the span of only a few weeks.

“They know then they’re not going through that incident by themselves. There are people that, number one, we remember the date, and number two, they’re there if I need them. And that’s important.”

“We employ a lot of military folks,” Flanagan said.

“When dealing with PTSD, it can be any small incident that trig gers someone to a traumatic event they’ve had in the past. It’s an accu mulation of all the years of traumas you’ve gone through.”

For instance, someone driving past a car accident on a highway may just see an accident, but a first responder could see a reminder of a traumatic scene from years before.

“There’s really no set incident that triggers a peer team response,” Sims said.

“Normally, what we do is we assess from the on-scene officers, how is everybody on the scene, is there anybody in particular that is not acting their self?”

There are some incidents that

“One of the guys from the peer support team at the Sheriff’s Office, without me reaching out to him, he reached out to me, and he came and provided that one-on-one with myself, talked with me, and worked through some of the feelings I was going through at the time,” Smith said.

“A lot of us have calendars,” Sims said. “We just had a firefighter whose family had a traumatic event probably 10 years ago. Their family member that they lost, it was their birthday. We already know, birth days, Christmas, things like that are hard. So we reached out on the birthday of their family member, and said we understand it’s a hard day for you, we’re just checking in, and if you need us, we’re here.”

Sims said to them, it is worth their weight in gold.

“You might not know everything in their military service, but just the way the world’s been lately, even something like that can spur back up. Them knowing they’ve got some one they can call at any time, that’s their answer rather than going to a dark place right away.”

Legislation helps the peer support groups

While public safety organiza tions may find the idea of peer sup port groups to be beneficial for their organization, what isn’t – or wasn’t – attractive to them, at least in Georgia, was that of cost.

“Every organization that certifies peer support counselors charge, on average, $1,500 to $3,000 per par ticipant,” Sims said.

“It’s not very cost effective for a public safety agency, when you look at our goal, at Coweta Fire, to have 10 members per shift. So we’d like 30 people, times $3,000 a person, it’s very cost prohibitive.”

In 2018, however, a group of law makers sponsored a bill that did something about that very problem.

“Thank goodness the state saw the need for peer support, and a few of the state representatives started a bill in the House, House Bill 703,” Sims said.

“House Bill 703 funded peer sup port programs for public safety pro grams in the state of Georgia, and it started the Georgia Office of Public Safety Support, which is a group of counselors and a group of peer sup port personnel tasked with bring ing the training all over the state of Georgia at no cost. That’s when all of us were able to get certified through the state of Georgia.”

The bill passed the General Assembly and was signed by thenGov. Nathan Deal in 2018.

I’m proud to be able to support the peer support group, because just having that ability and that outreach allows people to continue their job for the longevity and day to day.

CCFR members recognized at Ronnie Thames Foundation Silent Hero Awards

NTH STAFF REPORTS

news@newnan.com

Several members of Coweta County Fire Rescue were recently recognized for their efforts in service.

Lt. Warren Brooks was awarded the Education/Community award. Lt. Brooks is always finding ways to help the public and coworkers, according to Chief Robbie Flanagan.

“He is always the first to help department members and their fam

ilies who are facing hardship; he can often be found cooking meals, cut ting grass, moving furniture, and is always there with a friendly smile and warm words of encouragement,” he said. “His leadership is contagious, and he inspires others to follow in his footsteps.”

Firefighter Jazzmin Bryant and Lt. Arial Watts were nominated for the Teamwork award for their ongo ing efforts to make Coweta a better place, and also for acting as men tors within the department and the

community.

The two are involved with recruit ment and are always willing to talk with anyone interested in becoming a Firefighter and EMT, Flanagan said.

“They work to ensure that each person they encounter has the tools and advice necessary to excel profes sionally and in day-to-day life,” Fla nagan said. “Additionally, they are members of our peer support team at Coweta Fire where they are trained to provide support to public safety personnel.”

Firefighter Mathew Marchbank was nominated for the Teamwork award.

“Lt. Marchbank is heavily invested in ensuring that the citizens of Coweta are served by the best Fire Rescue Department possible,” Flana gan said. “He helps with the Explor ers Program, which is a program for high school students considering a fire career, along with the Coweta Peer Support team, recruit school and the Hiring Committee.”

Firefighter Mathew Marchbank, with his wife Nikki, was nominated for the Teamwork award.

PHOTOS COURTESY CCFR

CCFR Capt. Rusty Brewer stands with Lt. Warren Brooks, who is holding his award.

Firefighter Jazzmin Bryant and Lt. Arial Watts were nominated for the Teamwork award.

We’re hiring!

i o n o f 1 y e a r p r o b a t i o n a r y p e r i o d , e m p l o y e e s r e c e i v e 1 5 % p a y i n c r e a s e a n d a r e t h e n e l i g i b l e t o r e c e i v e a n n u a l m e r i t i n c r e a s e s b a s e d o n p e r f o r m a n c e

W i d e v a r i e t y o f f u l l - t i m e a n d p a r t - t i m e j o b o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r v a r i o u s c a r e e r s a n d s k i l l l e v e l s

D e n t a l , v i s i o n , s h o r t - t e r m d i s a b i l i t y , l o n g - t e r m c a r e a n d m o r e T w o h e a l t h i n s u r a n c e p l a n s ( H R A & H S A )

B o t h i n c l u d e e m p l o y e r c o n t r i b u t i o n H S A o f f e r s v e r y g e n e r o u s e m p l o y e r c o n t r i b u t i o n ( u p t o $ 1 , 6 0 0 )

C o u n t y p r o v i d e d l o n g t e r m d i s a b i l i t y b e n e f i t s , a l o n g w i t h l i f e i n s u r a n c e o f 3 x a n n u a l b a s e s a l a r y f o r t h o s e e n r o l l e d i n t h e r e t i r e m e n t p l a n

G E N E R O U S R E T I R E M E N T M A T C H

E m p l o y e r c o n t r i b u t i o n s u p t o 6 % a n n u a l b a s e s a l a r y u p o n h i r e I n c r e a s e s 2 % e v e r y f i v e y e a r s o f s e r v i c e u p t o 1 4 % b a s e d o n l o n g e v i t y 1 0 0 % v e s t e d a t 5 y e a r s

E m p l o y e e s a c c r u e l e a v e a n n u a l l y

F o r f i r s t y e a r , 6 d a y s 1 5 y e a r s , 1 2 d a y s 6 - 1 4 y e a r s , 1 8 d a y s 1 5 + y e a r s , 2 4 d a y s 1 0 p a i d h o l i d a y s a n d 1 p e r s o n a l d a y

F r e e y o g a a t m u l t i p l e l o c a t i o n s F i t n e s s r e i m b u r s e m e n t E m p l o y e e w e l l n e s s a n d f i t n e s s a c

If you have a passion for helping others, we have a job for you.

Coweta County has vacancies in our Fire Rescue, 911, Sheri ’s O ce and Corrections departments. We o er competitive pay and insurance, generous retirement & leave packages (sick, annual leave and paid holidays), employee wellness programs and training.

FIRE RESCUE: Firefighters and EMTs work 10-15 days per month for 12- or 24-hour shifts.

911: Communication o cers work 15 days per month. Lots of opportunities to earn extra pay with overtime in both departments!

C O M P E T I T I V E P A Y & I N S U R A N C E

A N N U A L L E A V E & H O L I D A Y S

HEROES AMONG

2022

NPD: Maintaining and developing community connections

After being announced as the Chief of Police in 2021, Brent Blan kenship began the process of moving his department forward.

Within that process, they have developed and implemented what’s called a “Community Connection Program.”

Among the several initiatives that we originally planned for include the development of a Community Rela tions Division in the Newnan Police Department’s organization.

Captain Jody Stanford cur rently leads this division which now includes the Community Resource Officers Unit, Bike Patrol Unit, SRO Division, and Animal Warden Officers.

Blankenship has also been instru mental in developing a Community Contact directive –in which each officer is required to make contact and introduce themselves to a com munity member and have a conver sation every shift.

“This cannot be a dispatched call, traffic stop, or police-related matter, it is required to be a self-initiated contact by the officer,” Blankenship said.

“By implementing both of these initiatives we have seen a posi tive movement in our community interaction. It has also allowed us to further our social media plat form and stay connected with our community.”

Moving into 2022, the NPD has developed a new program within its department and staff that has resulted in great community sup port, Blankenship said.

“Our department as a whole has implemented and begun a new pro gram that we call Operation Safe Streets,” he said.

“We began this program at the end of last school year (June 2022) and it remains ongoing. The program is led by Sgt. McPhie with the purpose

to bring our officers and the commu nity together.”

The program takes multiple offi cers from a variety of different units and assignments to the commu nity, especially in neighborhoods, to visit and make contact with local children while building bonds with citizens.

“We take this time when we are conducting Operation Safe Streets to walk the neighborhoods, give out stickers, pens, balls and other items, we play basketball with the kids, throw a football, and just hang out and answer questions,” Blankenship said.

This program has offered officers an opportunity to better connect with the citizens they serve.

“This gives the officers a chance to meet and speak to more of our community in a capacity outside of the everyday 911 call,” Blankenship continued.

“It is an opportunity for the offi cers to be themselves and for our community members to get to know their officers working here at the Newnan Police Department.”

Several times during the sum mer, the NPD used its Operation Safe Street Program to go and pass out popsicles in our local neighbor hoods, the Boys and Girls Clubs, and parks for our local children.

“Several times this summer when we needed to serve a search war rant or arrest warrant, Sgt. McPhie would use our officers participating in this program along with our local agencies to assist in handling these police matters,” Blankenship said. “Once completed, they would fol low up those details, staying in our neighborhoods.

“It is an opportunity for our offi cers to perform some of those duties that their job requires but would then allow for our officers to stay in that neighborhood to make con

tact with our community and build bonds, answer questions and make a difference,” he said.

Many times officers answer and call, perform their duties as required, and then leave.

This is an opportunity for us to remain and be with our commu nity. Numerous agencies have par ticipated in Operation Safe Streets including the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, Carrollton Police Department, LaGrange Police Department, and the GBI task force, just to name a few.

This program overall has been tre mendously positive within the com munity of Newnan, Blankenship said.

“Many nights when one or more of the other agencies attended, they, along with our own officers, enjoyed their time in the community, so much to the point we have had to

send them home to be ready for work the next day — no one wanted to leave,” Blankenship said. “We have since even gone to several of the other agencies and assisted them in a very similar manner. I cannot say enough about our department, all of the officers who have and still con tinue to take part in this program, and I look forward to the program to continue building and developing further in the future.”

On the horizon for the Newnan Police Department will be its “Com munity Connection Group,” which will be comprised of Newnan resi dents meeting once a month and dis cussing police matters, policy and procedures, crime trends and inci dents occurring in different areas of the city.

“This will include our commer

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cial and neighborhoods, to show and teach these citizens different aspects of what policing is and how it is done,” Blankenship said.

“This will provide an opportunity to work with our training division to better understand what officers are learning and why. This is also a time that we want not only our offi cers and these community members to build a bond and relationship but for those community members them selves to bond with one another”

Because everyone’s neighborhood has its own identity with specific needs and wants, the goal is to bet ter inform community members of what that is and provide a better understanding to all.

“It is an opportunity for the com munity and police to come together to learn and build from one another,” he said.

“It also gives that citizen an opportunity to go back to their

own neighborhood and pass along that information learned and dis cussed in the hopes of providing fur ther transparency within our entire community.”

The development of the “Commu nity Connection Group” program has been a primary goal for Blaken ship who feels that it’s getting close to becoming a reality.

But the support from the commu nity, city council and City Hall can’t be understated, Blankenship said.

“Continuing forward, our goal is to further develop those relation ships and strive for the Newnan Police Department to be the best in the nation and for the City of Newnan to be the best place in the nation to live,” he said.

SUNDAY WORSHIP 8:30am

SCHOOL 9:45am