NEWS FROM THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT

Inspire Drone

Alzheimer’s and Autism Outreach Group (AOG) brought a huge holiday gift to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. AOG, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to assist first responders with keeping individuals who suffer from Alzheimer’s, Dementia and Autism who go missing or wander off, has been raising funds for a little more than a year to provide the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office with a

Search and Rescue Drone, known as “the Inspire Drone.”

The Inspire Drone is modified with cutting-edge thermal imaging technology in order to see any human being in a car, the woods or even in buildings.

Alzheimer’s-Autism Outreach Group provided its first Inspire Drone to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office in July 2016. Since then, the group has been on a mission to provide these drones to sheriff’s offices around the state. Montgomery County is the second county to receive such a gift.

“The drone can cover a lot more than five or six people on the ground, “said Dallas County Sheriff Harris Huffman. “You’ll have one operator standing there looking at the camera and one operating the drone, but the drone is telling them where to look.”

Executive Director of AOG Oscar Wayne Calloway is more than ready for Montgomery to receive this type of drone, as this has been his goal for some time. “Time is of the essence. It is important that we enable the first responders to find those who go missing in a very timely manner,” said Calloway. “The Sheriff’s Office has already been trained through the Auburn Aviation Group, so the officers will be ready to start day one.”

AOG has raised funds over the past year through the generous contributions of companies like Aronov, Baptist Health, Guardian Credit Union and Reinhardt Lexus. However, some very large donations from the Jay L. Smith Family Foundation have tipped the scale, allowing AOG to purchase the drone at this time. The foundation headed by Dr. Holly Roth, daughter of Jay L. Smith, was set up to provide funding to charities for causes that meet the needs of the Montgomery community.

For more information on this project or AOG, or for interviews, please contact Lynn Cox at LRD Marketing at lpcox@lrdmarketing.com.

We owe a lot of gratitude to Alzheimer’s and Autism Outreach Group for providing our agency with such a well-needed tool!

Firearms Familiarization Course

You can register for any of our 2018 course dates

(listed below):

January 13

February 10

March 10

May 12

June 9

July 14

August 11

October 13

December 8

We know that learning how to protect yourself is very important in today’s world.

The class is held at our newly dedicated Sheriff D.T. Marshall Firearms Training Center and lasts most of the day and is FREE to Montgomery County citizens! The morning session is classroom instruction on firearm safety and firearm laws. The afternoon session allows citizens to practice shooting on our Firing Range for the remainder of the class (if you would like). All classes are under the instruction of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Range Master.

Course Requirements:

• Montgomery County Citizen

• Obtain a Montgomery County Pistol Permit (prior to the course date)

• Complete an Application for the Course

Pistol Permit Questions? 334.832.1335 or 334.832.1337

Course Questions or to Obtain an Application?

Lisa Crenshaw@mc-ala.org 334.832.1339

Your safety is our primary concern; therefore, we ask that you do not bring children to this class.

Sheriff’s Office Promotions

We would like to recognize two of our very own, who received promotions recently. Jon G. Briggs was promoted to the rank of Assistant Chief Deputy on November 20, 2017, and Gayle Atchison was promoted to the rank of Major on January 1, 2018. Assistant Chief Briggs has been with our agency for more than 22 years and Major Atchison for over 41 years. They both have served many years of dedication to the Sheriff’s Office and will continue to benefit the agency.

Congratulations!

Thank You

Thank you to those that donated to the Sheriff’s Office Angel Tree Project helping those less fortunate during the holiday season!

Generosity goes a long way!