Gainesville area DNR law enforcement vet to join HQ Command Staff

SOCIAL CIRCLE - This week, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division's northeast Georgia Region supervisor, Captain Thomas Barnard, was promoted to Major and will join the Command Staff at the Division's Headquarters in Social Circle. He steps into the vacancy created when DNR Commissioner Mark Williams named Walter Rabon as the new Deputy Commissioner of the Department a few weeks ago.

"We are glad to have Major Barnard at HQ and I believe his many years of experience at the Region level will be a great asset to the entire Law Enforcement Division," said DNR Law Enforcement Director Colonel Eddie Henderson. "He has been very successful as a leader in two of our Regions and I'm looking forward to his continued success at the statewide level."

Barnard has been with DNR Law Enforcement for 22 years and has worked in northeast and east central Georgia his entire career, serving as Captain in both Regions. The last ten years, in addition to managing 19 counties in northeast Georgia, he also supervised all of DNR Law Enforcement's operations at Lake Lanier.

During his career, he has gained experience in numerous special operations deployments including the south Georgia flooding in Albany in 1994, the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, the G-8 Summit in 2004 and he worked with the Body Recovery Team after Hurricane Katrina in 2007.

Major Barnard's hard work and dedication has been evident to his peers and the Division Command Staff as well. He was selected Region Ranger of the Year three times ('96, '99, & '02), Investigative Region Ranger of the Year in 2002, State Supervisor of the Year in 2006, and was a nominee for the Peace Officers Association of Georgia's Award for Valor in 2000 and 2005.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/3/285938