The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has won the 2022 Phyllis Goodwin Award Agency of the Year from the Georgia chapter of the FBI National Academy Association.
The award was presented to Sheriff Richard Roundtree on Jan. 13 during the association’s winter conference held in Augusta.
According to the association’s website, the annual award recognizes local police agencies that have shown excellent support of the association and its training mission.
“Criteria for the award is measured in the categories of how the agency’s efforts present themselves in a manner that lend strength, dignity, and credit to the law enforcement profession, the impact the agency’s efforts have had on the Georgia chapter of the FBINAA, and the positive impacts involving agency programs and services made in the community,” the association’s website states.
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According to the official award rules, “Support is shown by being active and working to build cooperation among agencies of multiple jurisdictions. The agency of the year will be an agency that continually works to build the professionalism of law enforcement.”
Rountree attended and graduated from the FBI Academy in 2008.
Chief Deputy Patrick Clayton says that Roundtree has made continued training a priority throughout his nine years in office.
“The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has benefited from the education and training received from the FBI National Academy. Continued involvement with the FBINAA and the training offered will aid the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office in its efforts to move to the next level in law enforcement,” Clayton said.
Currently, four department officers are FBI National Academy graduates, and another command staff member is currently scheduled to attend, according to Clayton.
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The award is named for Phyllis Goodwin, a veteran of the FBI who worked with the agency for almost 38 years. During most of those years she served as the police training tech and she assisted officers who wanted to attend the national academy, according to the association’s website.
Longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover created the national academy after suggestion were made at an FBI conference in 1934,
“The school’s principal objective is to raise the level of police professionalism nationwide by training local police officers,” Hoover is quoted as saying at the time.
Past recipients of the award include the Georgia State Patrol, the Westpoint Police Department, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, the Marietta Police Department and the Rome Police Department.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
