Steve Abell, Smithville Walmart store manager, presented a $1,000 grant to Sheriff Patrick Ray Wednesday in support of the program which is intended to foster better communications between citizens and the Sheriff’s Department through education on the day to day operations
“I am happy on behalf of Walmart to donate this money to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department to help with the citizens academy and the training of our local residents,” said Abell.
Sheriff Ray said he is grateful for the donation.
“I would like to thank Walmart for the $1,000 grant for our Sheriff’s Citizens Academy. I appreciate what Walmart does for our community especially our emergency services. We have a great working relationship and partnership with our local Walmart here in Smithville”.
The grant from Walmart, Sheriff Ray said will be put to good use.
“We will be using this money to buy training supplies and other needs for the academy. In addition to Walmart we have other sponsors that donate things such as food and drinks along with giveaways for our participants in the class. We will be announcing all of our sponsors to our participants at beginning of each class. We also announce them publically on WJLE radio and in the Smithville Review newspaper after the participants graduate the academy,” he said.
The next class, which begins September 3, is already full but another one will be held in the spring.
“Our fall class is starting next month on September 3 and we will graduate our participants on October 22. This is an 8 week long academy. We have already sent out our acceptance letters to those students. We have 12 students in this next academy class. We meet each Tuesday night starting at 6 p.m. and we try to get everyone out by 9 p.m. There is an application process for the academy. Each individual has to fill out an application. Two of the most important requirements for someone to attend the academy are that they have to be a resident of DeKalb County and not have a criminal record. They have to live here. We are not at this time accepting anyone who lives in another county or who just works here in DeKalb County. We do run criminal background checks on everyone that applies. Once that is completed and they are accepted we will send out an acceptance letter with a date, time, and location where the academy will be held. We try to keep the class size to around 12 people and that is due to a lot of the classes being hands-on with each individual class member. We teach our participants the many services the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and Jail provide to citizens and visitors to our county. The classes will also allow participants to experience what our correctional officers, school resource officers, court officers, deputies, and detectives see on a daily basis,” Sheriff Ray continued.
“A few of the topics to be included in the academy are domestic violence training, traffic stops, firearms, seminition training, investigations, what the role of the School Resource Officer is, and the D.A.R.E. program. We will also give a tour of the DeKalb County Jail and courtrooms and offer a ride along program with our patrol deputies after the participants graduate,” he said.
To apply for the spring class either mail or email your application to Sheriff Ray.
“We will have another class starting next spring. I would like to ask anyone who lives in DeKalb County and is interested in our next citizens academy to email me at sheriff21@dekalbsheriff.net or you can mail me your request to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, Attention Sheriff Patrick Ray, 100 public square, Smithville Tennessee, 37166. I will in return email you back or send you an application back by mail. We go through the applications and contact everyone who has been accepted,” he said.
“We are very proud to offer this to our citizens here in DeKalb County. It’s just our way here at the Sheriff’s Department to give back to our communities,” Sheriff Ray concluded.
