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Transcript

Valerie Fuller (Intro):

You’re tuned in to the Clayton Connected Podcast in Clayton County where the world lands and opportunities take off.

Valerie:

Good day to you. I am Valerie Fuller Communications Administrator in the Clayton Connected Podcast studio. Joining me today is Officer Shontrese Dismuke as well as Captain Ricky Porter from Sector 3. Welcome to the Clayton Connected Podcast. So we have gone through Sector 1, 2 and now we’re with Sector 3 of our Clayton County Police Department and we are delighted to have you here in the studio today and we’re talking all things Sector 3. Talk to me about some of the great things that are happening in Sector 3, Captain Porter.

Captain Ricky Porter:

We’ve got a lot going on. Our Commissioner, Commissioner Allen is very plugged into the community. She has a Walk and Talk coming up that Officer Dismuke will tell you about here shortly. She does have a lot of community events as well where she comes into the community center. People can ask questions, attend town halls and things such as that and it’s good to have leadership that stays plugged in and in touch with their community because we’re able to hear the concerns, the desires of her community and put together plans to help things.

Valerie:

Absolutely, we have to give a big round of applause to all of our commissioners who are working hard every single day to represent all the citizens and the communities throughout Clayton County. So tell us about the walk and talk that’s coming up.

Officer Shontrese Dismuke:

Commissioner Allen has a walk and talk that is coming up this month April 18th. It’s from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. It’s actually at the Gerald Matthews Park. So pretty much she’s just allowing residents to come and join her on a brief walk and any questions or concerns that you want to voice at that time you’ll be able to do so.

Valerie:

So not only are you able to talk with the Commissioner but you’re also able to get your steps in, get a little exercise in while engaging with the Commissioner about things that are concerning you within your community that she can help with.

Captain Porter:

That’s right. Commissioner Allen stays very available to the community, especially our sector as well as I. So, we work together regularly. We like to hear those concerns because it helps us come up with a game plan on how to improve things for the citizens and make things better. And just to clarify the walk is from 9 to 10, so it is a one-hour walk and as you mentioned get those steps in and you get an opportunity to speak with police leadership as well as your Commissioner.

Valerie:

And if you’re looking for Commissioner events in your particular neighborhood or community you can always log on to claytoncountyga.gov which is the Clayton County Government website and you can check the calendar for any events and activities. They are busy, busy, busy. We’re all busy. There’s no non-busy time throughout the year but we encourage everyone to please if you haven’t subscribed to newsletters to go to claytoncountyga.gov and subscribe to the newsletters to get all the information on the latest events and activities for the commissioners and or departments throughout Clayton County. So that’s not the only thing happening in or Sector 3. What else is happening or coming up that our junior citizens can engage in?

Officer Dismuke:

Yes, we have a Junior Citizens Police Academy. That’s a 10-week program that we’ve done as the police department. We have an adult version of that and now we’re catering to the children. So any school-aged child pretty much from the age of 8 up to 18 can come and participate in this program. Each week for 10 weeks you would come on a Monday for an hour and be at our police department and we’ll have a different unit present in front of you so you’ll gain firsthand knowledge of what we do as a department.

Valerie:

What’s some of the feedback that you’ve gotten so far from the Junior Citizens Academy from those who have participated or completed the program?

Officer Dismuke:

The children love it. They love it. They come in a little timid and shy at first but as they go through the program and they get more hands-on activity and get involved with different units, they’re all smiles at the end of it and wishing that it was a longer program.

Captain Porter:

Yeah, what makes it great is we require them to have a parent with them, so they get to have some bonding time with their parent while they also learn a lot about police services. So, everything from getting to get inside of a SWAT vehicle, looking at helicopters, to watching drones fly, seeing canine dogs come out and the handlers talking about what they do and how they do it. They just get a really in-depth look at what policing is and the fun side of policing. You know, when we think about it, a lot of people always think about the bad side but there’s a lot of really good stuff that goes on at the department where we love engaging our children. We love engaging our elderly. So, it’s a great opportunity for them to be able to experience that with a parent and a lot of times we find those parents come back for the more in-depth course, the regular 10-week Citizens Police Academy that we hold. So, we have a lot of repeat guests.

Valerie:

To continue the education process and it’s all about fostering those relationships, right? We want people to understand that, you know, yes, we want people to abide by the law, but there are engaging activities and things that police officers do every single day for the good of the community. And these are just two of the programs. I know the Adult Academy, as well as the Junior Citizens Academy, and I love the fact that they include the parents with it because it’s all about relationships. And so, kudos to Clayton County Police Department for such magnificent programs. And I’m going to get signed up one day. I just got to find the time on my calendar and I’m going to make it happen before the end of 2026.

Captain Porter:

We’d love to have you.

Officer Dismuke:

Let’s do it.

Valerie:

So, we know that it is actually spring break, summertime coming. We know that there are children who don’t travel necessarily throughout the summer or throughout spring break. So, what are some of the things that you would encourage parents and students to be on the lookout for or not to do during spring break and throughout the summer as we approach the summer months?

Captain Porter:

Well, the one thing that I always like to encourage, I’ve worked with kids a majority of my life. And what we found is the more engaged you are with your child or the child that you’re mentoring, the more good of a feel you can have on how their life is going and what’s going on. So, today’s culture is very influenced by social media, by being plugged in with the groups, what we call in groups, people that are like you. And we want our kids to have good influence. So, while you can’t be with them all the time, spending time with them in the evenings or asking them questions about their day and staying engaged with them can kind of help you gauge who they are. And then keeping an eye on their activities as they go off.

You know, a lot of people will allow their kids to go out and play with neighbor children and stuff. That’s fine, but know who’s around you, know what’s going on. Don’t allow your child to subject themself to an area where they might become a victim or be negatively influenced to victimize someone else in different ways, like thefts and such. We do see an increase in thefts from houses and from vehicles on spring break and then going into the summer, mostly because the children become idle during the school year. They’re tied up with classwork and, you know, hopefully they’re all in school. But during the summertime, there’s a lot of unsupervised opportunities and that’s where we see there are thefts go up from our vehicles and our homes. So, if you see anything come into your home that doesn’t belong there; high-value electronics, new clothing, new shoes, it would be a good time to start asking about those. Hopefully, you know, in a perfect world, kids will stop taking the stuff and we won’t have to worry about it. But being on top of it and being involved with your child is crucial for helping curb that behavior and being a good influence, you know, giving them something to look forward to, so.

Valerie:

Right. And we know that there are our Spivey Splash Water Park is coming open soon towards the end of May around Memorial Day. What reminders do you want to share with parents as they are entering into the summer months? Things to just be mindful of?

Captain Porter:

So first of all, be mindful of who your kids with and where they’re at. Obviously, you get around water, the increased danger to the child is there. Even with older children, we’ve had several, you know, reports in smaller pools and in public pools of people being injured. That’s why we have lifeguards on duty. So, safety is number one. Number two is make sure that you keep your valuables somewhere that can be secured and even setting a phone down on a table or setting car keys down on top of a bag. Those can be taken pretty quickly, especially when you put a lot of people in one area together. With the hot months and with the awesome water park that we have here in the county, you can expect thousands of people to be there at once. And there’s statistically impossible for thousands of people there not to be somebody who’s looking to victimize somebody in that crowd. So, theft is the number one concern. Obviously, safety as well. If you see something, say something.

So, if you see any kind of brawls or any kind of incidents where things might get amped up, always reach out. We have public safety that patrols that area regularly. We’ve got administrators inside of the water complex itself. And that’s even with our public pools. That’s where you’re going to see a lot more of the troubles. You get groups of kids or group of people. Not everybody sees life the same way. So, if you see something, say something. If there’s a concern that there may be a possibility of an incident happening, go ahead and give us a call. We’ll send our officers out.

Valerie:

And then we also always encourage our parents not to leave your children unattended.

Captain Porter:

Absolutely.

Valerie:

It is a public place, you know, all throughout Clayton County. There are public places. But don’t leave your child alone. And if your child is of age to drive or teenagers, high school students, you know, always have a partner with them so that they’re not by themselves. And encouraging parents also to, you know, just be engaged with other parents so that they’re aware of what’s happening with their children and to know who their friends are at all times.

Captain Porter:

Yeah. The old saying, it takes a village to raise a child is true. And I found that especially down here in Sector 3, that’s why we’re so blessed. We do have a lot of children in Sector 3, I would say probably more than the other sectors, because there’s a lot of communities down here, family communities, neighborhoods. So, knowing your neighbors and kind of having that co, I wouldn’t say co-parenting, but that that extra set of eyes always helps out. You know, I’m always looking out for any kids that are around me. My officers are doing the same. And we would hope that people are doing the same for our children.

Valerie:

Absolutely. Captain Ricky Porter, Officer Shontrese Dismuke, thank you so much for coming to join us on the Clayton connected Podcast. We can’t wait to have you back because I know there are going to be even more great things happening throughout Sector 3 that are positive. And we look forward to sharing those with our citizens. So, thank you for joining us.

Officer Dismuke:

Thank you.

Captain Porter:

Our pleasure.

Valerie (outro):

I’m your hostess, Valerie Fuller. Thank you for listening to the Clayton Connected podcast in Clayton County, Georgia, where th