School System police chief speaks to Albany-Dougherty Kiwanis Club

ALBANY — Chief/Public Safety Director Troy Conley of the Dougherty County School System Police Department was the featured speaker at the Oct. 31 meeting of the Albany-Dougherty Kiwanis Club.

During the meeting at Austin’s Firegrill, the chief spoke about the breadth of his department’s responsibility for security and enforcement to protect the school system’s 14,000 students, 21 campuses and administrative buildings, buses and bus stops.

The DCSS force numbers 21 officers across four divisions: administrative, investigative, uniform, and the recently-added social services division. Conley said many of his officers are veterans of other police agencies and are among “the most skilled officers in Dougherty County.”

While there are some bullying and gang issues in the schools, here and across the country, the chief said the biggest threat to the schools is from external sources, not internal. While the department works “diligently with staff and teachers” to resolve discipline issues, its officers also undergo rigorous training and can respond tactically to any location in the system “within a five- to seven-minute time frame.” The school system police force also has a good working relationship with the other law enforcement agencies in Dougherty County, he noted.

An estimated 800 to 900 DCSS students are classified as homeless, the chief said, and the department collaborates through the Wraparound Program with local outside organizations to enable families to have access to beneficial services.

In a nod to the various facets and facilities of the Dougherty County Schools, Chief Conley said, “Policing a school district is like policing a city in itself.”