New DPD Officer Dexter Kapur (left) stands with Assistant Chief Truman Whitfield after being confirmed at Tuesday’s PSC Meeting
Sergeant Jason Bishop (left) and Lt. Matthew Locke (center) pose with Assistant Chief Truman Whitfield after having their promotions confirmed by the PSC
Assistant Chief Truman Whitfield presents Officer Matthew Dykes (2nd from left) with the DPD Medal of Valor as Dalton Fire Battalion Chief Chris Cantrell (left) and officers Michael Hughes (third from left) and Aaron Simpon (fourth from left) look on
The Dalton Police Department opened Tuesday morning’s meeting of the Dalton Public Safety Commission with the introduction of a new officer. Dexter Kapur was introduced to the commission and he was confirmed by a unanimous 4-0 vote (commission member Keith Whitworth was not in attendance).
Officer Kapur graduated from the Georgia Public Safety Training Center Police Academy in December 2014. He has been taking part in the department’s field training program this month and was confirmed as an officer this morning.
Officer Kapur is a May 2014 graduate of Dalton State College with a degree in criminal justice.
He graduated from Gordon Lee High School in Chickamauga in May 2009.
Also at Tuesday morning’s meeting, DPD Assistant Chief Truman Whitfield presented two candidates to the commission for promotion. Lieutenant Matthew Locke and Sergeant Jason Bishop both had their promotions confirmed by unanimous 4-0 votes of the commission.
Lt. Locke has served the Dalton Police Department for 19 years. Most recently, he has served as the operations sergeant supervising the Criminal Investigations Division. He received the department’s 2013 Leadership Award. Lt. Locke has an associate degree from Dalton State College.
Sergeant Bishop has been with the Dalton Police Department for 14 years and has more than 20 years’ experience as a law enforcement officer, previously serving with the Lexington, Kentucky Police Department. His most recent assignments have been as a detective in CID. He holds an associate degree from Georgia Northwestern Technical College and earned the DPD’s Innovation in Police Services Award in 2011.
Three Dalton officers and one firefighter were honored for their roles in a fire rescue credited with saving a man’s life. Officers Matthew Dykes, Michael Hughes, and Aaron Simpson were presented with the police department’s Medal of Valor. Battalion Chief Chris Cantrell of the Dalton Fire Department was honored with a special commendation and commendation ribbon. The DPD Medal of Valor is awarded to officers who, conscious of danger or risk of personal danger, perform “an act of extraordinary heroism or valor above and beyond the call of duty.”
On the morning of December 7th, Officer Dykes noticed smoke coming from a house on Lamar Street and called it in. He discovered that there was a man trapped inside by a fire in the front area of the house. Officer Hughes arrived to fight some of the flames with a fire extinguisher. Officer Simpson crawled into a window in the back area of the house and with the help of Battalion Chief Cantrell, pulled the victim to safety.
PSC Chairman, Secretary Re-Elected
As Tuesday morning’s meeting was the Public Safety Commission’s first of the year, officers were elected for 2015. Chairman Bill Weaver and Secretary Terry Mathis were both re-elected to the same posts by unanimous votes of the panel.
The Dalton Public Safety Commission is comprised of Chairman William B. Weaver, Carlos Calderin, Terry Mathis, Keith Whitworth, and Kenneth E. Willis.