Frank Hooper of Gainesville: Georgia's Top Police Chief for 2007

The ink wasn't quite dry on the news that Hall County's Steve Cronic was Georgia's Sheriff of the Year, when the statewide annual meeting of Chiefs of Police is held, and we get the news that Gainesville's Frank Hooper is Georgia's Chief of the Year. If this were baseball, you could say our community had just hit a grand slam. And what better proof could we-the-people have, that we have excellent officers-of-the-law protecting us, than to have our two top law enforcement officers honored by their peers as the best in Georgia? Frank Hooper is a second generation Gainesville lawman, and he credits his father, Captain Roy Hooper Sr., with teaching him early to be a top cop, and giving him the desire to serve Gainesville as its chief. Under Hooper, Gainesville's police force operates as a team, and he has gained a reputation for recruiting excellent men, giving them solid training, and adopting creative ways to keep Gainesville a safe place despite its rapid growth. For instance, the department's "Safe Kids" initiative was honored a few days ago as a top-three finalist for the Motorola Curtis-McClung Award of Excellence ... an honor bestowed on police departments for creative, innovative and effective new programs. There are 155 Chiefs of Police in Georgia, and Frank Hooper is among the few charged with handling a population that has a small-city culture and bigcity problems. His department handles events smoothly, like the visit of dignitaries to town, or handling the crowd for the Memorial Day Parade, while keeping traffic moving and leaving lanes open for emergency vehicles. The law-abiding citizens of this community are fortunate to have the state's top Sheriff and top Chief of Police looking after us.

This is Gordon Sawyer, from a window on historic Green Street.