Chief Wayne Dennard and his department, Acworth Police Department has been named the recipient of the 2017 Dr. Curtis E. McClung/Motorola Award for Excellence by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police. (GACP) This award, which is co-sponsored by the Motorola Corporation, is given annually to an agency in recognition of an innovative program initiated by the department that fosters law enforcement excellence. Chief Dennard and representatives from the department received the award on Monday evening, July 24th, 2017.
Acworth P.D. received the award for the implementation of the Chief’s Young Adult Advisory Board. The Board was created to be able to connect with teens and spend time listening to their concerns for their community. The Board’s mission is to increase diversity, awareness, and insight into what young adults are experiencing, saying and expecting form law enforcement by opening lines of communication between all stakeholders. It also increases communication between students, the chief of police and promotes community confidence in the police department through relationships, education, partnerships and transparency. As a result, the program grew and expanded to reach even more young adults and the department developed a teen version of the citizens police academy called STARS (Smart Teens Are Responsible &Safe) Acworth P.D. received a $1,000.00 award for their achievement.
There were two runner-ups to this award both with outstanding community relation programs - the Georgia Tech Police Department for their Social Media program and Peachtree City Police Department for their “My Community Officer Program.” Both runner-ups received $500 to foster the growth of those very professional community relations programs. Other agencies receiving accolades for their programs were Atlanta Public Schools P.D., Athens-Clarke Co P.D., Marietta P.D., Roswell P.D. and Savannah State University P.D.
This prestigious award is named after Dr. Curtis McClung of Columbus, who is credited with bringing Georgia’s law enforcement community into the modern era while also assisting the GACP in its pursuit of excellence, especially with respect to management training.