Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office receives state accreditation for operations

ALBANY – The Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office became the third of the 159 sheriff’s offices across the state to be accredited through a statewide program that was launched last year.

Dougherty County personnel were part of the team that helped draft the standards used for accreditation, Dougherty County Sheriff’s Col. John Ostrander said during an update this week to the Dougherty County Commission.

The accriditation is awarded through the Georgia Sheriff’s Association.

“This is a great honor and a great accomplishment for Sheriff (Kevin) Sproul before he retires,” Ostrander said. “We were in 100% compliance.”

The new accreditation program includes jail operations that were not covered in previous accreditations, including jail operations and sex offender registries.

The first to be accredited was Glascock County in December 2023.

That office was relatively easy as the operation does not include a jail, Ostrander said, and Dougherty County was part of the accreditation process.

Glascow has one of the smallest sheriff’s offices in the state, with about five full-time sworn deputies.

During the commission meeting Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler also gave a report on the summer Swim for Life program that teaches youngsters to swim.

“This year we had 613 kids,” the coroner said. “When we first started off we had about 150 kids and now we’re up to 613 kids.”

Since the program started in 2017 the county has not had a drowning death of a young person, the coroner has said in the past.

The annual program partnered this year with Albany State University, Albany Recreation and Parks Department, Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany and YMCA.

While not all of the participants learned to swim, those who did not at least got more comfortable in the water, and learned things like treading water and how to get out of the water, Fowler said.

“Every child doesn’t learn at the same pace,” he said. “They can come back next year and improve their skills.

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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