Thomson Police Chief Joseph D. Nelson was recently awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award at a law enforcement training session in Denver.
Nelson said he is the first Georgia officer to bring home the top award from the National Center for Rural Law Enforcement's Rural Executive Management Institute.
Nelson said the program was founded in 1997. This year's event had representatives from 33 states.
In an interview with The McDuffie Mirror, Nelson focused more on the training than on the award.
Subjects included ethics and effective leadership, civil liabilities for law enforcement executives, preparing and managing budgets, grant writing techniques, media relations for law enforcement personnel, surviving in the political world, drug enforcement, and "communication concepts for Generation Next," he said.
Nelson said the training is valuable, and he pledged to implement aspects of it in Thomson.
He said he looks forward "to finishing what I started" as police chief "and that is to rid this community of crime, whether it be drugs, burglary, gang activity or any crime that can put our people in harm's way."
"I am dedicated to creating a better quality of life for all who reside or will pass through the city of limits of Thomson," Nelson said.
Nelson has been Thomson chief since March 2010.
The law enforcement seminar was held April 11-14.
