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VALDOSTA, Ga. — The Valdosta Police Department has procedures in place to protect officers responding to calls, the city’s police chief said Sunday in the wake of another deadly attack on lawmen in another state.

Three Baton Rouge, La., law enforcement officers were killed and three others wounded Sunday, less than two weeks after a black man was shot and killed by police there in a confrontation that sparked nightly protests across the city that reverberated nationwide. Police said the suspect was shot and killed at the scene. 

On July 7, a gunman in Dallas opened fire on police at a protest about police shootings of black men, killing five officers.

Violence struck close to home July 8 when Valdosta police officer Randall Hancock was shot while responding to a call at Three Oaks Apartments in what authorities described as a “suicide by cop” attempt by a depressed man who called 911. Hancock returned fire, hitting his assailant, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The suspect is hospitalized, while Hancock has been discharged from South Georgia Medical Center and is recovering, Police Chief Brian Childress said Sunday.

Hancock was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot, and the vest stopped two of the three bullets fired at him, the GBI said. Childress said wearing the vests is mandatory for officers on patrol, as well as for police involved in “special operations,” such as raids and carrying out search warrants.

“We have always had procedures in place to deal with high-priority calls,” he said, including sending two cars to such incidents.

In recent years, more police on Valdosta’s streets has meant faster response times in the event of trouble, Childress said.

The police department has not added special procedures in the wake of a string of deadly assaults on lawmen nationwide, he said, nor has he seen any specific threats against the city’s officers.

“The only response (to the violent incidents) we have seen is community support,” Childress said. The chief mentioned one yard sign saying “Thank you, VPD” and a number of small signs planted around the city urging “Back the Blue.”

A recent community forum at Morningside Baptist Church with the local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Color People and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on the subject of police relations with minority communities was well-attended, Childress said.

Terry Richards is senior repoerter at The Valdosta Daily Times.