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**The Decatur (AL) Police Department:“Safety Education Through Sidewalk Chalk”**
  August 2018 | Volume 11 | Issue 8

*The COPS Office is pleased to feature the Decatur (AL) Police Department as the August 2018 winner of the Community Policing in Action Photo Contest. The winning photo features Sergeant Heather Atchley with a high school student during Teen Driver Safety Week, drawing driver safety reminders in a local high school parking lot.*

The City of Decatur, Alabama, known as “The River City” sits  on the Tennessee River just 25 miles from Huntsville. Described as a  blue-collar community, minorities make up over 20 percent of its population of  approximately 55,000 people. The Decatur Police Department (DPD) is  comprised of 150 officers and 50 civilian staff members.

“Our biggest public safety challenge would be maintaining a  good working relationship with the community in light of all of the issues  going around the nation between law enforcement and communities,” said Chief  Nate Allen, who has served in his role for two years. Prior to being chief in  Decatur, Allen served in the Knoxville (TN) Police Department for thirty years.

Chief Allen believes that transparency is the best way to  overcome this challenge. “When something bad does occur, we address it head on  with open dialogue,” he shared. In his two years as chief, he has participated  in numerous community meetings and neighborhood watch meetings. He hosts  breakfasts with the chief and command staff, and has an open door policy for  community members. At any time, community members are welcome to chat with him.

He says the department relies on social media to help with  transparency and to share positive things happening in the community. Through  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, the department engages with its  followers on a number of topics, including upcoming events, safety tips and  recommendations, searches for wanted subjects, and recruitment opportunities.  In fact, the DPD has a website dedicated to its recruiting efforts.

“I think the police department should reflect its community  with its hiring,” Chief Allen said. “We have a pretty diverse police department  that reflects the community. Recruiting is difficult, but we try to let our  officers recruit for our police department. If others see our officers doing  well, they will want to join us.”

Just as challenging as recruitment can be, keeping officers  motivated also requires effort. “I believe the officers want three things,”  Chief Allen stated. “They want to feel supported by the administration, have  the tools they need to do their jobs, and they want to be trained in the latest  techniques when it comes to policing. We do all of those things and that’s what  helps to keep them motivated.”

What also keeps officers motivated is the flexibility to be  creative on the job. Sgt. Heather Atchley, pictured in the winning photo,  developed a presentation for local students during Teen Driver Safety Week as  part of the DPD’s Safety Education Unit. The presentation focused on general  safety rules for the road, including Alabama’s Move Over Law.

During Teen Driver Safety Week, Sgt. Atchley participated in  a number of activities with students, including driving golf carts with photo  vision drunk goggles. “They knocked over a lot of cones and were like, ‘Oh my  gosh! We had no idea it would be like this!’ Hopefully we deterred them from  drinking and driving in the future.”

The students also used sidewalk chalk to draw safety  education phrases on student parking spaces at the school. “We did sidewalk  chalk, so as they [students] pulled in their parking spaces, they would see ‘No  texting while driving,’ ‘Move over,’ and other safety phrases that we learned,”  Sgt. Atchley shared. “This was the first time we had done this. The Safety  Education Unit started last year and I was the only officer – so this is  something that I brought. It’s something that we’ll continue in the future.”

The COPS Office congratulates the Decatur Police Department  for being one of the 12 winners of the COPS Office 2018 Community Policing in  Action Photo Contest and for its commitment to community policing.

*Written with  contributions from Decatur Police Chief Nate Allen and Sergeant Heather  Atchley. Photo courtesy of Decatur Police Department Crime Scene Investigator Jonathan  Lowery.*

Najla Haywood          Managing Editor        COPS Office	    

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The Community Policing Dispatch is the e-newsletter of the COPS Office. 

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