According to the recently released 2009 annual report, Winder Police patrolled over 420,000 miles and responded to more than 16,400 calls for service in 2009.
Officers also presented more than 50 programs to school children and community members, hosted a Citizen’s Police Academy and participated in several charity events.
“Our motto is ‘Serving Our Community’,” Winder Police Chief Stanley Rodgers wrote in the report. “It’s more than crime reports, accident reports and arresting people.”
Investigating and preventing crime, however, is the department’s main focus.
In 2009, officers wrote over 5,000 incident reports and initiated 5,000 investigations resulting in 497 arrest warrants for 256 individuals. Investigators successfully cleared 87.5 percent of assigned cases. For the year, the Winder Police Department Criminal Investigations Division (CID) handled 391 theft cases, 268 incidents of family violence, 265 drug investigations, 253 battery cases, 228 cases of criminal trespass and 209 instances of entering auto. CID also investigated 199 burglaries in 2009.
For the year, investigators seized 16 vehicles and over $50,000 in cash and assets.
Winder officers also investigated 594 traffic accidents during the past year. Two people were killed and 141 injured in these accidents. According to statistics provided by the department, most accidents occurred on Fridays. The period between noon and 6 p.m. was the most common time of day for an accident to occur.
Officers issued a total of 5,862 traffic citations and 2,837 warnings in 2009. The top ten traffic offenses during the past year were speeding, seatbelt violation, red light violation, expired tag, no license, DUI, stop sign violation, child restraint infraction, license not in possession and no insurance.
Winder Police Department employees worked over 100,000 regular hours last year and 8,500 hours of overtime. Over 4,200 hours were devoted to continuing education and training.
Several department employees were honored during the past year. Det. Sgt. Rachel Love was named the Kiwanis Club Officer of the Year. Ofc. Daniel Evans was selected as the Winder Noon Lion’s Club Officer of the Year and Rita Riner was the Winder Police Department Employee of the Year.
Capt. Dennis Dorsey was honored as an outstanding employee in part for his participation in the 239th Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy. Dorsey is the first member of the Winder Police Department to attend and graduate from the prestigious program.
“The employees of this department work hard every day answering the telephone and/or patrolling 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to create a better quality of life for all our residents and many visitors to our community,” Rodgers wrote. “The men and women of the Department are dedicated to the best service that can be offered to our community and setting an example for others to follow.”
