Bell Re-Elected POAG President

Stephens County Commission Chairman and Comer Police Chief Dennis Bell will continue on for another year as the President of the Peace Officers Association of Georgia.

Bell was re-elected last week at the organization’s annual conference in Savannah.

This will be the second year in a row that Bell has served as President of the Peace Officers’ Association of Georgia and the seventh year he has served on the group’s executive board.

Bell said it is an honor to serve again in the role.

“It is a very humbling experience to know that the men and women in the law enforcement field and the members of the Peace Officers Association of Georgia have put this kind of trust in me to continue to do this job,” said Bell.

He said that one focus for the next year in the Peace Officers Association of Georgia will be training.

“One thing I want to make sure is we continue to make training available for all the members of the Peace Officers Association of Georgia and we may actually try to do it for non-members of the Peace Officers Association of Georgia,” said Bell. “We are going to be working with other agencies and organizations in the state, such as the Fraternal Order of Police, Georgia Police Chiefs Association, Georgia Sheriff’s Association, and of course we are going to be working under the Gold Dome with the Legislature, to see what we can come up with to make some safer things for the law enforcement officers than is out there know and to do some things that may help the citizens out here as well.”

Bell said another point of emphasis will be looking at the policies regarding use of force

“It is a white paper for the use of force for the state of Georgia,” said Bell. “We have gotten very in-depth with that with many agency heads throughout the state and that includes the Director of the GBI, Georgia State Patrol, the Sheriff’s Association folks, the Georgia Chiefs Association folks, and several other folks throughout the state that are agency heads in law enforcement. What we are trying to do is get us a use of force policy together where everybody will be of one accord if you will and not have five or six different use of force policies floating throughout the state.”

The Peace Officers Association of Georgia is the state’s oldest and largest law enforcement association.

Peace Officers Association of Georgia Executive Director John B. Edwards said that Bell’s character, along with his progression through the executive committee chairs provides him with the qualities to lead the association into the future and continue its rich history of promoting the highest professional standards.