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HOMELAND SECURITY MESSAGE TO GA OFFICERS:
“YOU ARE FIRST LINE DEFENSE AGAINST TERRORISM”
(ATLANTA/Georgia International Convention Center) More than 400 traffic enforcement officers attended the GOHS Governor’s Challenge Awards this month to hear a renewed call for vigilance from the state’s top guardian of Homeland Security. Georgia’s Homeland Security Director Bill Hitchens told a record crowd of State Troopers, police, and sheriff’s deputies that theirs is a growing responsibility to be “first-preventers” as well as “first-responders,” to detect and deter acts of terrorism in America.
“Vigilance against terrorism requires looking beyond the tag and the ticket,” said Homeland Security Director Hitchens. “It’s the local law enforcement officer who historically has been instrumental in helping America catch terrorists like Timothy McVeigh and Eric Robert Rudolph, while our officers were performing what the public calls ‘routine police-work.”
“You make contact with hundreds of Georgians every day,” Hitchens told the crowd of 400.
“And this contact is the type of intelligence gathering that leads to these kinds of arrests.”
As a retired State Trooper Command Staff Officer, Hitchens said he recognizes that High Visibility Traffic Enforcement is now more important than ever before and that High Visibility Traffic Enforcement is what the annual Governor’s Challenge Awards are all about. GOHS hosts the Governor’s Challenge awards each year to recognize the efforts of Georgia law enforcement agencies as they increase safety belt usage, slow down speeders and reduce impaired and aggressive driving.
“You must continue to master this latest training and technology, manage community relations and maintain strong relationships with your fellow traffic enforcement officers and local officials.. And you must do it all against the backdrop of this new post-9/11 era,” said the State Homeland Security Director. “You have planned, trained and exercised emergency response and procedures in your local communities and you have helped educate the public.”
Through several years of the Governor’s Challenge Awards, GOHS has encouraged state and local law enforcement agencies to step-up enforcement of life-saving programs in their communities. Participating agencies are judged on their highway safety officer training, public information-and-education efforts, innovative highway safety programs, and enforcement.
“Because of your constant training and capabilities in the field, many of the Traffic Enforcement Units I’m addressing here today were recently called upon by my office to provide assistance with G-8 Summit security,” said Hitchens. “Secretary Tom Ridge acknowledges you have worked longer days and increased your presence at airports and your visibility at crucial infrastructure. To quote Secretary Ridge, “This isn’t civil defense- this is civil offense.”
“As Secretary Ridge says, we want to take back the initiative from the terrorists and we’ve made a great start. I realize you have conducted more random searches, made more traffic stops, more concentrated patrols and road checks.. And because you have done these things, our country and our home state are far safer than we were on September 11th, 2001. Much of the credit goes to men and women such as you.. People who go to work everyday to keep America safe, city by city, town by town, mile by mile.”
“We have come a long way in a short time. Since 9/11 you’ve improved your communication, cooperation and the information-sharing qualities essential to Homeland Security. By working together, in partnership, we can make Georgia and America safer and stronger than ever before. Thank you for your service to your community and your country.“
This year the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety sent away entries from fifty-seven Georgia law enforcement agencies to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) for judging. Georgia Homeland Security Director Bill Hitchens offered congratulations to all of Georgia’s Traffic Enforcement winners. “I am truly proud of Georgia’s law enforcement officers,” Hitchens said.
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