THOMASVILLE — It was just a year ago on January 11 that Thomasville Police Chief John Letteney was sworn in by Judge Mark Mitchell at the Thomasville Fire Rescue Station 1. 

Now, Letteney adds another year of experience to his 40 years in law enforcement. 

“I’ve been reflecting on my 40-year career and all of it has gone by fast,” he said. “And certainly, the last year has been great in a lot of ways, big learning curve not only about Thomasville, the department and community but also going through the Georgia State Certification process.”

Coming from being the police chief at Apex (North Carolina) Police Department for 16 years, Letteney had a lot to learn about Georgia law.

“That was a lot of work as well, but I enjoyed it,” he said.

The pandemic also gave its fair share of challenges during Letteney’s first year, but through it all he said he’s learned so much.

“One thing I’ve learned after 40 years of law enforcement is the only constant is change. What we are dealing with now is not what I dealt with when I went to the academy the first time,” Letteney noted. “Our profession changes, the needs of our community changes, the opportunity we have to make a positive difference in the quality-of-life changes, so we need to be resilient enough, forward thinking enough to be able to adapt and address those challenges.”

Some accomplishments followed this past year’s challenges with one being the decrease in crime rates, according to the 2020 annual report. 

Crime trends, however, have become a concern as the 2020 annual report also indicated some public safety issues. 

“We’re concerned about gun violence. That’s a significant problem and even one incident is concerning,” Letteney said.

DUIs are another crime trend that is up significantly but plans to start a traffic safety unit with officers focusing on DUI enforcement, prevention and education may be the answer.

“Hopefully by assigning those personnel and resources to be specific in dealing with those problems, we’re going to make a bigger impact in crime and public safety,” Letteney said.

But with TPD currently understaffed, Letteney’s attention will also be geared toward recruiting throughout this year.  

“We’ve got some great candidates coming, but we also need more,” he said. “We need to continue a focus and increase our diversity in the people we hire, which means we have to attract people that reflect our community and that’s more of a challenge now than it was even a year or two ago, so we’re looking at strategies to do that.”

Programs such as the state-funded de-escalation training will take flight this year as Letteney mentioned the new equipment, which includes two portable simulator houses, over 10,000 simulation rounds, 65 emission rounds and role-playing suits came in two weeks ago.

Letteney is also excited to introduce a new peer counseling program to the department, which is in the final stages of development.

“The challenges of this job on sworn staff and civilian staff are very significant,” he said, “and while we have city-based employee assistance programs, the research has shown that a very specific peer counseling program where police officers are trained to intervene and help their colleagues in challenging circumstances, will help officers deal with the traumatic things that we have to face.”

With support from the Georgia Department of Public Safety, the program will be the first peer counseling program in the region.

“It’s a great program and I’m glad we’re able to get that put in place in a few months,” Letteney said.

With tons of plans set for the new year, Letteney said he’s confident his vision for the department will be executed through teamwork. 

“The last year has been great to be a part of this organization,” he said. “There really is a lot going on here and it’s hard to believe a year has gone by.”