Sheriff Announces Formation of Crime Suppression Unit

January 17, 2011

Sheriff Patrick Ray announces the formation of a new Crime Suppression Unit at the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department. This new Unit will focus on a team concept that uses a variety of resources including the members of the Department and citizens of our communities in DeKalb County.

Members of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department’s Crime Suppression Unit will work a variety of assignments with the investigative division of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department. This unit is assigned by the Sheriff to work in areas where members of the community have expressed concerns about possible illegal activity or where there is a need for special tactical or unmarked patrol. Specific examples are: detection of traffic violators, conducting covert surveillance related to drug activity, completing field interviews on suspicious persons, executing search warrants, and seeking out and arresting individuals who violate state laws. This unit is designed by the Sheriff to attempt to deter criminal activity resulting in an improved quality of life for citizens throughout the county, and will have a direct positive impact on the communities’ safety and concerns.

The Sheriff has appointed Officer’s within the Department to serve on the Unit. This unit includes members of the Sheriff’s Department’s Road Deputies, K-9 Unit, and Detective Division. Each member of the Unit will be an active, responsible, trained, and experienced officer of the Sheriff’s Department.

The Crime Suppression Unit of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department will focus on 5 major target areas, as well as other criminal activity that arises in the county.

The 5 major target areas are:

1.Manufacture, Sell, and Delivery of Illegal Narcotics
2.Problem-Oriented Policing Projects
3.Property Crime Suppression
4.Gang Enforcement and Suppression
5.Alcohol Beverage Control Enforcement

Sheriff Ray says that community involvement is the key to making this initiative work. “DeKalb County is a rural county with a growing population. As the population grows, so does the occurrences of crimes. Subsequently, our citizens’ “eyes and ears” are important tools in helping us detect criminal activities,” says Sheriff Ray.

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Smithville Elementary School Receives Gold CAPS Award

January 15, 2011

Students at Smithville Elementary have participated in the Fast ForWord program and received the Gold CAPS Award.

The FastForWord program develops and strengthens memory, attention, processing rate, and sequencing-the cognitive skills essential for reading intervention program success. The strengthening of these skills results in a wide range of improved critical language and reading skills such as phonological awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, decoding, working memory, syntax, grammar, and other skills necessary to learn how to read or to become a better reader.

Dr. Bill Tanner, Principal at Smithville Elementary School, shared the good news with the Board of Education on Thursday night. "Last year our Fast ForWord program won the Gold Cap award as being one of the schools that uses the Fast ForWord program. That's a program our children go through that trains their brain on how to read. It's a fifty five minute period that they go through during the day for thirty days. I try to schedule it so every class gets to go in there sometime during the year. We try to get it done before the end of the year. Last year we included the first grade in it also. We have increased the program. So we have won that award again this year. The Fast ForWord program develops and strengthens memory and attention. I feel like it is a good program. Our teachers are working hard everyday. Our paraprofessional who is in charge of the program does a fantastic job with that. Winning this award shows that we're using this program to the nth degree. I think it was developed to begin with as a program to help brain injured people. In using that, they found out it was also an aid in helping people learn how to read."

FastForWord reading intervention supports the existing curriculum-it doesn't replace it. It is aligned with the No Child Left Behind state mandates and has been an important factor in AYP success. And, most importantly, the gains students achieve are lasting, the result of enduring positive changes in their processing skills and learning capacity.

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