From Our Police Department

Cops Corner Update:

In an effort to continue our capabilities of serving and protecting our growing community, the police department recently added another fulltime police officer. Officer Dakota Fennell was hired January 2022. He brings over 13 years of police experience, working in Laurel, Maryland and in several police departments in Pennsylvania. He has worked in various capacities during his career, including patrol and drug investigations. He is a certified firearms instructor and armorer. Officer Fennell is a welcomed asset to the department and community.

Training:

Chippewa Police sponsored a 2 day Advanced Roadside Impairment Detection and Enforcement (ARIDE) program held at the Veteran’s Park Field House on January 12th, 2022. The training was developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration presented by the PA DUI Association. This training was created to educate officers on how to identify the signs of drug use by motorists. The training further teaches the officers what type of impairment each class of drug causes. The officers also receive the court accepted methods of observing and articulating the signs of impairment as it relates to drug use and a combination of drugs and alcohol. This advanced training makes officers more aware of the dangers of operating a vehicle while under the influence of legal and illegal drugs, affording the officer tools to help them remove dangerous motorists from the roadways. This course was attended by various departments from all over western Pennsylvania.

January 6, 2022, officers attended a Live Saving Medical Tactics course presented by Street Cop Inc., held in Pitcarin, PA. This course provided officers with advanced medical tactics to use in the field to save lives while waiting for medical care. We are hopeful that our officers never need to utilize this training; however, we have it if needed.

Statistics:

Although the department struggled over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with COVID-19 infecting most of our personnel, the department still did a great job in protecting and serving. Once again, we had a large volume of incidents and some heinous criminal activity.