APD Patrol Division

APD Crime Prevention/Dare

The department's crime prevention unit was established in 1980 and in 1988 the first DARE officer was trained and began promoting the program within the local city schools. Today, the department still has a very active DARE program under the direction of Officer Rick Crossen.  Officer Rick teaches in the 5th, 6th, and 8th grades, and the program is strongly supported by the schools and their communities.  The local Kiwanis Club started the Athens County DARE Foundation which supplies funding for the program as well as purchasing the T-Shirts for all DARE graduates.

Dare and Crime Prevention Officer Richard E. Crossen

K-9 Patrol

In 1997, the department received our first dog, Ringo, a Belgian Malinois.  After Ringo and his handler, Officer Jim Michael, completed their training and the city saw the benefit of the unit, a second dog, Pepsie, was purchased.  He will be on the streets with his handler, Officer Krisha Osborne.

Mounted Patrol

The Mounted Patrol was established in 1996 to assist in crows control situations and was also found to be a very good tool in the Community Policing Program.

Bicycle Patrol

Established in 1996, the Bicycle Patrol has been very useful in patroling and in community policing. The very first scheduled patrol by bicycles resulted in four felony charges and the recovery of several thousand dollars that had been stolen from parking meters.

This site developed by Lt. Tom Pyle II, Athens Police Department, and Jason Dudas, City of Athens