Ringgold reviewing new police policy The city also receives a Georgia Municipal Association safety grant
Officials in Ringgold are reviewing new policies and procedures for the police department after more than a year’s worth of diligent work from the department administrators.
During the Jan. 13 City Council meeting, City Manager Dan Wright introduced the police department’s updated policy for review and explained that it could be approved for implementation as early as mid-february.
“As many of you are aware, the police department has been working on an updated policy for well over a year. It may actually be closer to two years now,” Wright said. “We certainly have a very extensive policy in hand that we’ve been operating on, but the police department wanted to update it.”
Wright says the policy includes updated training for police officers to make sure their credentials and knowledge are always up to date.
“The city had approved a couple of years ago, the use of Lexipol, which is a digital training-type platform and a way that our officer an pull information at their fingertips about any portion of the policy while they’re on duty in their car. I’m sure that they can do it on mobile devices as well,” Wright said.
The Lexipol system will require officers to log in to a training portal every time they come to work.
“They’ll have to read a portion of it and answer questions before they can move on,” Wright said. “This system logs all of the training that each officer goes through so that we can ensure than our officers are staying on top of their game. This policy covers many aspects of the Ringgold Police Department such as law enforcement role, authority, organization and administration, general operations, patrol operations, traffic operations, investigations operations, equipment, support services, custody, and personnel. It’s broken down into categories so that they can go to those categories they may not be familiar with and really get up to date.”
Wright says that the policy includes a lot of input from Chief Dan Bilbrey, Detective Jennifer Jones, and
Capt. Chris Faulk, and that it was recently reviewed by City Attorney Jim Bisson.
“He (Bisson) has reviewed it and given his stamp of approval after some changes were made,” Wright said.
After introducing it to the board, Wright recommended that the council review it over the next month and for it to be placed on a February meeting agenda for final approval.
Mayor Nick Millwood concurred that the City Council reviewing the entire police policy is a good plan before final consideration takes place.
“As we read through it, we may (have questions), so I appreciate you being open to us contacting you,” Millwood said. “It’s a pretty thick packet that we got Friday. I appreciate you presenting that to us and all the work you’ve done on it.”
GMA Safety grant
In addition to the introduction of the updated police policy, Wright also announced that the city has been awarded a safety grant.
“It’s a GMA (Georgia Municipal Association) safety grant award,” Wright said. “Thanks to Gina Wilson and our directors. They worked hard to get this grant. The city will receive $6,900. We got a wellness grant earlier, but this one is for safety like with our worker’s compensation, water tower climbing equipment, respiratory cartridges, puncture proof gloves, safety vests, and many other items. We’re proud that we’ll be getting the grant for those items.”
Adam Cook is a general assignment reporter and covers the Walker-catoosa County area. Cook has been a reporter since 2009.