Milton and Mane
Welcome to Milton and Mane, the City of Milton, Georgia's official podcast—a dynamic space where community connection meets insightful conversation. Whether you're a resident, local business owner, neighboring government official, or a curious listener from afar, this podcast is your gateway to understanding Milton on every level.
Each episode is designed to bring you closer to the heart of our city, offering behind-the-scenes stories that humanize the people who keep Milton running. You'll gain valuable insights into local government operations, discover new opportunities, and hear from the voices that shape our community. Expect to learn about our rich history, stay updated on future developments, and explore the vibrant arts, culture, and sustainability initiatives that make Milton unique.
Join us as we celebrate our community, encourage civic engagement, and share inspiring stories that resonate beyond our city limits. Subscribe today and be part of the conversation that's building a better Milton, one episode at a time.
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Milton and Mane
The Chief's Perspective: Policing and Progress
This episode features insights from Milton's Chief of Police, Jason Griffin, and City Manager, Steve Krokoff (also a former Milton Police Chief), on several issues that impact the community on a daily basis. From distracted driving to a definition of Strategic Policing, this episode covers a lot of ground and provides a basic framework for how the Milton Police Department serves and protects the citizens of Milton.
We talk about:
• The dangers of distracted driving
• Technology's role in driving safety
• Home security tips
• The importance of community vigilance
• Identity theft prevention and resources
• The legal implications of sexting for teens
• Community engagement in police practices
• Community outreach events and opportunities
If you have any specific questions about upcoming events, reach out to Officer Rebecca Tidwell at rebeccatidwell@miltonga.gov or 678-242-2527.
With the community in mind, this podcast explores the stories, people, and initiatives that make our community unique. Each episode offers insights into local government, highlights Milton's history and future developments, and showcases the vibrant arts, culture, and sustainability efforts shaping our city. Join the conversation, celebrate our community, and discover how we're building a better Milton together.
Do you have an idea for an episode or would like to request a specific topic to be covered? Email Christy Weeks, christy.weeks@miltonga.gov
Learn more about the City of Milton at www.miltonga.gov.
Welcome to Milton and Maine, the official podcast for the city of Milton. We want to bring you closer to the heart of our community through stories that inform, inspire and connect. Each episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at the people, projects and priorities shaping Milton, covering everything from local government and future development to arts, culture, sustainability and public safety. Whether you're a resident, a local business owner or just curious about our city, this is your front row seat to what makes Milton special. Today's episode is a must listen as we tackle issues that impact every Milton resident, your safety and peace of mind.
Speaker 1:Joining us is Jason Griffin, milton's chief of police, a leader with deep ties to our community. He's here to share his journey from his roots in law enforcement to his vision for keeping Milton one of the safest places to call home. Also here today is none other than Milton City Manager, Steve Krokoff, whose decades of experience in law enforcement, including previously serving as Milton's Chief of Police, gives him a unique perspective on today's conversation. With so much to cover today, let's just get to it, steve, welcome back. I appreciate you taking the time to explore the topic with us.
Speaker 2:It's good to be back, christy, thank you.
Speaker 1:Chief Griffin, thank you for joining us today, and I want to start with you with some insight into your law enforcement career.
Speaker 3:Hey, Christy, it's great to be here. I have been in law enforcement going on 22 years. I grew up in East Cobb, not far from Milton. I spent most of my weekends in Alpharetta, Roswell, in the Milton area. I started my law enforcement career out at Newton County Sheriff's Office in Covington, Georgia. I was out there for about nine years and my wife and I hit a point to where our oldest child was school age and it was a good time for me to make a change in departments and move back home closer to my family and my roots, and I came on with Milton in 2011, and I've been here ever since.
Speaker 1:So you came on in 2011, and, steve, you rolled in 2015.
Speaker 2:I did. Chief was were you a sergeant or lieutenant when?
Speaker 3:I came. I was a sergeant at the time. You promoted me to lieutenant.
Speaker 2:Nice, see Shortly thereafter your arrival. Yeah, pat myself on the back. Appreciate that, by the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I want to talk about something that affects all of us the moment we get behind the wheel, and that's distracted driving. It is one of the leading causes of accidents nationwide and an issue that we see here in Milton. But what exactly makes it so pervasive? Is it just phones? Is it the morning makeup routine you know at the stop signs? Or are there other factors at play here? Chief?
Speaker 3:So not only is it the leading cause of accidents nationwide, it's our leading cause of accidents here in Milton. It's phones is the biggest distractor. Cell phones by far are the biggest distraction. I mean we live in a fast-paced digital world and everybody's used to being constantly connected. It's terrible.
Speaker 3:It is. It only takes a split second. Typically most of our accidents happen in areas where traffic is stopped up a little bit and people think that they can look down at their phone and still keep an eye on the cars in front of them. But many of our vehicle crashes are very minor in nature but the rear end distracted driving causes. I'd be willing to bet 80, 90% of them.
Speaker 1:Wow. Well, I have three kids and I'll be at. All of them are in their twenties now, but the level of distracted driving that I have witnessed is shocking, and it doesn't matter what I tell them, I don't know anything. I haven't had any experience, and I know it's a challenge for other parents, but I also notice that it's not just our young drivers. So, steve, what practical tips can people take today to be more mindful and reduce their distracted driving?
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's a lifestyle. Now it's not just distracted driving. People walk around with cell phones in front of their face instead of paying attention to what they're doing. I think driving quickly becomes part of the background instead of the primary purpose of what they're doing. People have to start recognizing where they are and be in the now right. In a car, you have to have a really split second reaction time when something occurs, and it's virtually impossible to do that with a phone in front of you. My suggestions are discipline for those that are of age that can recognize the danger associated with it, and also to lead by example If your kids are watching you, whether they're 10 or 20, and they're watching you on your phone while you're driving.
Speaker 2:they're going to be doing the same thing, so it's probably a good opportunity to lead by example.
Speaker 1:Not going to lie, it's hard. That's where my music is. It's on my phone.
Speaker 2:You're going to have to start talking to Siri and make it happen automatically.
Speaker 1:No, I'm teasing, but here's the. You mentioned people having a phone in front of their face all the time walking through the airport yesterday. The amount of people that had no idea of the situation around them, walking through the airport on their phone, not looking where they're going, whether they're in the middle or cutting somebody off, it's terrible.
Speaker 2:I was at a restaurant the other day with my family. I was ready to get up and go sit with another family. They were all just sitting there looking at their phones.
Speaker 1:We can do that?
Speaker 2:Probably not safely, but it's just become such a part of our culture that it is, it's just pervasive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Chief technology is often a double-edged sword. Yeah, we love it. We use it for a lot of really good purposes, but how have the hands-free devices and driving apps impacted the fight against distracted driving? Are they helping or are they adding new layers of distraction?
Speaker 3:I believe they're helping. They help, but they're not a cure for the issue. Of course it's become second nature for us to have immediate communication with others and sometimes people forget that handling their cell phones while driving is illegal in the state. The state passed a law years ago to where you can't even be holding your cell phone because the state recognized what an issue it was as far as safety and distraction.
Speaker 1:the state recognized what an issue.
Speaker 3:it was as far as safety and distraction, so these in-car apps are awesome. I just got my first vehicle that has CarPlay in it.
Speaker 3:CarPlay's fabulous it is. It reads you text. You can text right back verbally without touching anything. It's a game changer to the point where I actually had it added to my 18-year-old daughter's vehicle, as it wasn't an original option when we bought it. So I wanted to ensure that she had good habits and didn't have the opportunity to try to answer a text with her hands while driving down the road. So it's pretty scary stuff.
Speaker 2:I still have an 8-track in my truck. Yeah, sorry for those listening.
Speaker 1:No, you do not.
Speaker 2:No, but it was fun to say it's just a regular thing to say.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask to see because I haven't seen an eight track in a lot of years, but I'm not going to age myself in this situation. So, with education being the key to prevention in just about every area, what is the best way for families to instill good driving habits in younger drivers, and what roles do schools and community programs play in shaping those responsible road behaviors? And this is open to either one of you.
Speaker 3:I'd like to echo what Steve said earlier about leading by example. I think that's huge. Our kids are sponges. They're going to do what we do. They're going to do what they see us do, whether we want to acknowledge that or not.
Speaker 1:True facts.
Speaker 3:This is one of those topics where it's really important. It's no different than wearing your seatbelt, in my opinion. We do a lot of outreach with Fulton County Schools. We work with Fulton County School Police and a lot of the teachers that have programs for safety and driving and we do a lot of PSAs and stuff for our private schools and public schools in the realm of distracted driving. We actually host a class at Police Department called Alive at 25, and it is highly focused on not being distracted while driving. And how often is that class under the age of 25 are mandated through court to do it? But we have it's probably about 50-50. As far as their participants, Some people just come and sign up and take the class just because they want their teenager to go through it and see the real life disruption that distracted driving can bring upon your family.
Speaker 1:Wow, I think that's important. Now my question is just real quick. You're driving down the road and I would say 9 out of 10 people you see are looking down. If an officer sees that, is he able to pull over for that particular reason?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. That is considered a probable cause, that is a violation of our traffic code, and we do conduct directed patrols for distracted driving in our high crash corridors, where it's a known problem. So we do have targeted enforcement. Ninety-five percent of our traffic enforcement is targeted, based on stats, and we do have operations to where.
Speaker 1:That's all they're looking for is that common across the state of georgia or is that relatively specific?
Speaker 2:it is common across the metro area for sure, chief talk about the challenge in actually enforcing that as opposed to speeding violations, right, right so it is literally officer's word versus the driver's word.
Speaker 3:I saw you holding your phone. No, you didn't no it wasn't, but I wasn't texting, I was just holding it. Well, technically that is against the state code, which a lot of people don't realize. That's why these hands-free devices are also so important, but our officers don't always write that citation when they stop somebody. For that. We focus on educating the drivers. What they were doing is illegal. Some people still don't know, with all the advertising.
Speaker 1:How do you not know?
Speaker 3:I don't know. It's hard to drive up and down our highways without reading the billboards that say distracted driving hands-free.
Speaker 1:The commercials, the stories, everything.
Speaker 3:It's everywhere, hands-free. Put the phone down. The commercials, everything. It's everywhere. But again, in a fast-paced society, people forget.
Speaker 1:I can already hear my voice going up like eight octaves. What do you mean? I was holding my phone, just kidding. I'm a very good driver.
Speaker 3:Chief? Yeah, I'm sure you are.
Speaker 1:We're going to go with that. We're going to leave that one alone Now. So let's turn our attention to home security. I think it's really important that we talk about something that resonates with everyone, and this might not be the most glamorous topic to talk about, but the solutions to it can be surprisingly simple and affordable. So, chief, what are some easy, budget-friendly steps residents can take right now to secure their homes and make them less appealing targets for burglars?
Speaker 3:So some of the easiest things are things as simple as outdoor lighting, timed lighting inside your home if you're going to be out of town, or even if you just get home late, depending on your work schedule to have they make devices that your lamps can plug into and you can put them on a timer. Got them Something that simple. Just making it appear that somebody is home instead of your house entirely blacked out when it gets dark is a huge deterrent. Cameras on exterior of the home A lot of people have doorbell cams and that is all they have. Obviously, in a perfect world I wish every house had 360 degree view cameras, but I know that's not always possible.
Speaker 3:But many of our residents here in Milton do and that has been a huge force multiplier for us. It's just extra eyes and ears that never go to sleep, which, of course, helps. Another thing is alarm systems. Almost every home has one, but a lot of residents don't use them, don't arm them, and I'm guilty of this. If I'm being 100% honest, I don't set my alarm as much as I should. I've started to recently because I keep preaching this to the public and it's like all right.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:I'm preaching it. I got to do it.
Speaker 1:How unfortunate for that burglar who walks into the chief of police home. Yeah, oops.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oops, yeah, it'd be interesting. Chose the wrong one and something else. Not everybody's a dog lover, but dogs are a huge deterrent.
Speaker 2:That's it, chief. If the opportunity arose, I could tell you probably I could count on one hand in 30 years the amount of burglary reports I took at a house with a dog. Yep Right.
Speaker 1:The bigger the dog the better. Oh, I I had, well, I had a neapolitan mastiff and he was not a dog who barked a lot, but he would step out from somewhere and at all, 140 pounds of him and he was the runt. It would change somebody's mind before they walked on my property, and that happened a handful of times during the day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, and speaking of during the day, typically most burglaries occur during daytime hours. It is very rare that they occur at nighttime, and that is a common misconception by the public.
Speaker 1:Why is that?
Speaker 3:What I believe it's because they know that people are at work. Kids are in school, parents are at work. Kids are in school, parents are at work. It's highly unlikely that somebody's going to be occupying that residence during the daytime hours.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's good to know they're not looking to find somebody.
Speaker 2:When they get in there, they want to find a vacant home, exactly.
Speaker 3:Typically, burglars aren't looking for confrontation, they're looking for an easy get in, get out and get gone, agreed yeah.
Speaker 1:So you've seen firsthand how Neighborhood Watch programs and community vigilance can make a big difference. Can you share any information about how those efforts have helped us in Milton?
Speaker 3:What we learned is that people don't want to hear the Neighborhood Watch speeches over and over and over again, because it does come across. It can come across as condescending. Even though some of these preventative tips are so simple. They really do work.
Speaker 1:So a Neighborhood Watch program is just somebody coming in and talking to the neighborhood. You know you think about the movies and the first thing I thought was you know the neighborhood watch people on the street you know walking around with their little fluorescent green jackets.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, that's not a thing. No, not anymore, not here. But community vigilance itself is key. If you see something, say something. People are always hesitant to call 911 when they shouldn't be. That, quite literally, is the reason we are here is to call 911 when they shouldn't be. That, quite literally, is the reason we are here is to check out something suspicious. You see something you see at your neighbor's house that's a little off all that so important. And listen, the citizens are our eyes and ears. They're the best weapon we have to combat a lot of crime. And if they don't call us and make us aware, if they just get a weird feeling they see something off, hey, that car doesn't belong there. I know they're out of town or whatever the situation may be, call us. That's literally what we're here for and we appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Fair, fair, so let's talk about avoidable pitfalls. What common mistakes do people make that could unintentionally invite trouble? Fair, fair, so let's talk about avoidable pitfalls.
Speaker 3:What common mistakes do people make that could unintentionally invite trouble? So something as simple as if you're going on a trip. I know it's so hard in the social media world we all live in, but a lot of people post about their trip.
Speaker 3:Hey, we're going to be gone the next two weeks and they'll put it out on facebook, instagram, so excited I'm not saying that, saying that people that you're friends with that look at your post are going to be the ones committing the burglary. But that is what's considered open source information and if your page isn't locked down to just your friend group, anybody can see that. Other things like if you know you're going to have packages delivered while you're gone, have a neighbor grab the packages off your porch every day You're going to be gone for an extended amount of time, stop your mail delivery through the postal service. They do it for free. It's very simple. You can do it online. Not many people get newspapers anymore, but we have had instances. Our local paper does get delivered and I've driven around some neighborhoods here and seen five, six, seven newspapers at the end of the driveway. That is a key signal that somebody's out of town.
Speaker 1:Somebody's gone.
Speaker 3:And other than that, just locking and securing your doors and actually setting your alarm is huge, Chief.
Speaker 2:why don't you talk a little bit about the program that we offer?
Speaker 3:So vacation patrols. Anybody can go onto our website and sign up for a vacation patrol. If you're planning a trip out of town, you can tell us. Hey, we're going to be gone from this date to this date and we have a girl named Kaylee taking care of our cat Right. That'll be there every day, usually in the afternoon, evening time. She drives this car there shouldn't be any other cars in the driveway and what our officers will actually do, and our public safety ambassadors, as much as they can, depending on call volume, they will go by your house, get out of their vehicle, walk around your property, look for any kind of signs of any nefarious activity, open door, open window. Our officers have found open doors, unlocked doors, a host of things, and then we are able to secure it after searching the house, making sure everything's's safe and sound, contacting the homeowner, because we'll have the contact information from the vacation patrol application. It's just a great program and people have really started taking advantage of it well, that's really a great service.
Speaker 1:being out of town is something that can be super stressful for homeowners, especially if it's long term and somebody who's new to the neighborhood or new to the area that doesn't have that connection with their neighbors.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's huge. I get emails weekly. Hey, I saw your officers walk around my house on the cameras. Thank you, thank you. They didn't think we'd actually do it.
Speaker 1:You can sign up for it.
Speaker 3:I assure you they actually do it and they take it serious.
Speaker 1:That's great, that's amazing. So I want to kind of turn this to a broader picture. Strategic policing is vital in addressing quality of life issues that directly impact the community. So I want to start with just the basics what exactly is strategic policing and how does it differ from the traditional approaches?
Speaker 3:So traditionally and Steve can speak to this as well we were always very responsive or reactive. It was more reactive policing than proactive. Strategic policing is making sure we focus our resources in the right areas. We are very statistically driven at Milton PD and we analyze these stats weekly, sometimes daily, to look for trends, and then we sit down and we strategize. We literally strategize about working to mitigate them in the most efficient manner, whether it's targeted traffic enforcement in high crash areas or even from receiving multiple complaints in a certain area where we need to deploy more resources. It's knowledge that we wouldn't know unless we sat down and looked at everything that we deal with and come up with a strategy that best matches tackling that issue.
Speaker 1:And those strategies are very specific to the Milton area because you're looking at that particular set of data.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Right on. So, Steve, with your years of experience, how have you seen strategic policing evolve to strike that delicate balance between enforcement and serving the unique needs of a community?
Speaker 2:By making your work data-driven, like the chief said, you're putting your resources where you need them and you're not putting them where you don't need them.
Speaker 2:And there's a whole variety of tools you can use to be able to whether you work in crime prevention or you're doing work and related to some type of patternized crime, the data really puts you in a position to work with your community for them to understand what you're doing and why you're doing it.
Speaker 2:A lot of times people will say well, why are you watching this stop sign? Or why are you doing speed control on this road? Well, it might be because we have issues related to running a stop sign or speed, but it could also be related to a series of burglaries or larcenies or things like that, and we're using that opportunity to be able to get out there, see who's traveling around, see who belongs, who doesn't belong. A lot of times, the officers approach people. If someone gets caught that potentially lives in the neighborhood, instead of getting a ticket, they're getting hey, have you seen anything out of the ordinary? These things work extremely well and I came up in an era before really data-driven policing was a thing, and it took a little while for law enforcement to really embrace what it had to offer and really it's just taken off.
Speaker 1:What's that time frame? I mean, what are we looking at?
Speaker 2:It would go back to the Bratton years in New York City with Comstat, probably back in the 90s actually early 90s when they started really working towards the broken windows theory of policing, and it had a tremendous effect on New York City at the time and it was replicated throughout the country. Not everything about Comstat was fantastic, but the data-driven techniques has not been lost.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's an incident where technology has really contributed positively to planning and strategizing toward keeping your community safer.
Speaker 2:I couldn't agree more, yep.
Speaker 1:Right on. So I'm also curious, chief, if you can share an example of a particularly innovative or creative approach Milton's Law Enforcement has used to tackle a persistent issue.
Speaker 3:Well, like I said earlier, we do this daily. It's hard to drill down to one specific incident, but the key is for us to collaborate with our brothers and sisters around the table and come up with a strategy. Think outside the box if we have to. Not everything we deal with is a violation of law. It may be a quality of life issue that we know is impacting the community and that matters to us. So I think taking the time to think outside the box to use that phrase again has really benefited us to where we don't get siloed in the law enforcement realm of enforcement. There might be something else we can do through environmental design, education, communication to that specific area or community. We've just seen a ton of success with that and it's going to continue.
Speaker 2:Chief, you know you all did something, without getting into too much detail, where we had patternized shoplifting. I was very impressed by what you all were able to identify as the pattern and even get ahead of potentially the next shoplifting.
Speaker 3:That was something pretty creative, it was creative and, like I said, that all occurred by us sitting around a table and coming up with a strategy. We were able to figure out that this particular group would come to this business to commit these larcenies on a specific day of the week, and we were able to deploy technology and undercover officers to watch the parking lot. And it wasn't long before we were successful in Navidim.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's amazing Fun fact. I don't know if you knew this. I wanted to be a law enforcement agent a long time ago. I did.
Speaker 3:It's never too late.
Speaker 2:You defeat me. You still can be. We have some positions open.
Speaker 1:I am a little past my prime on that. The fitness test worries me a little bit.
Speaker 2:There's no such thing as past your prime.
Speaker 1:Says the one not coming up on their birthday here in the next few days. So finally, let's talk about some priorities. With so many concerns competing for attention, because you guys deal with a wide range of issues on the daily, every hour how does your team decide what to tackle first? And, just as importantly, how can residents effectively share their concerns to help shape those priorities?
Speaker 3:So to tackle the communication part of this, first, the city has a C-Click Fix app that they can download, specific to the city of Milton, where they can report anything from public works issues to speeding complaints, to suspicious activity, and the app sends an email directly to the department division at the police department, whether it be the traffic unit or uniform patrol or criminal investigations, and we reach out and we get more details if need be and all that gets considered when we're sitting down talking about strategy.
Speaker 3:Like I said earlier, we're so statistically driven and we are complaint driven for quality of life issues, speeding issues, things of that nature. If you see our officers out there running a lot of traffic or speed enforcement in a certain area, it's because somebody complained about speed in that area. Now we vet these complaints in that area. Now we vet these complaints A lot of times. You know we'll get a random complaint on a side road and we have technology that we can put out there for a week or so and it observes speeds, gives us averages, gives us the amount of enforceable vehicles and the time frames If there's a specific time frame. Again, this goes back into being very strategic. So we know we don't have to sit our traffic unit out there for 14 hours a day. We know it's worse between 4 pm and 6.30 pm and we have that smaller window, targeted, more effective enforcement to go on.
Speaker 1:Another growing concern that affects many people is today's digital world and the threat of identity fraud, and we see it all the time. We see the ads, we see all the plans that people are selling to try and protect it chief. With identity theft on the rise, what are some key red flags people should be aware of to avoid falling victim?
Speaker 3:There are spoofed emails that look like they're coming from your bank. They're commonly called as like phishing emails. I know we at the city are very concerned about phishing emails for good reason. They make them look so real. Yes, they will steal images, it'll come from an address that is similar, but things to look for is maybe some misspelling, some bad grammar. What I always do and I've gotten several of these phishing emails in recent years is I will call my banking institution directly and ask them if it came from them, and almost every single time I've called them it didn't come from them. Yeah, that's a huge red flag. And to kind of take this a little farther towards the scam side of things, phone calls yes, we will never call you to take care of a warrant over the phone with Apple cards.
Speaker 1:Kroger gift cards or.
Speaker 3:Kroger gift cards or green dot cards to pay a fine.
Speaker 2:We laugh about that because it sounds so ridiculous and then you wonder why are so many people victimized? But the reality is, when you get that call, they scare you, Panic, and what they do is they try to get you to react in a way that you wouldn't normally react. And every time someone is victimized they look back and they say oh my gosh, I can't believe I did this. The reality is is fear is a strong emotion and a motivating factor to do things you might not normally do.
Speaker 1:And it seems that the older population is the target for that. Because I consistently have this conversation with my mother, because she will click on anything that is sent to her. She will, hey, your phone needs cleaned up. So she clicks on it, absolutely. And then her phone, her Apple ID has been hijacked and everything else has been hijacked on and she doesn't understand.
Speaker 3:She didn't grow up with the technology, Unfortunately it's quite common that the elderly are highly victimized by these type scams. To the point to where we actually reached out to our local big box stores that sell gift cards and educated the cashiers, the front end store managers, about what to look for. We put up signs in the gift card areas explaining people, if don't buy gift cards, to pay fines over the phone, just trying to build this extra awareness. Cashiers have actually stopped people from buying thousands of dollars worth of iTunes cards, or whatever the card may be, and had the manager call the police department out there and we speak with the people. Could they be buying them for all their grandchildren or great-grandchildren? Of course, and there's been a few instances to what.
Speaker 3:That's exactly what they were doing, but we have stopped a lot of people from being victimized with just educating our partners at the stores.
Speaker 1:Right, so you're talking about education, which kind of leads me to my question with Steve is additional steps that people can take to protect their personal details and ensure that they're not leaving themselves vulnerable?
Speaker 2:The fact is, no matter how vigilant we are as individuals, our information is out there and the repositories they're in have been breached by bad guys already. So our dates of birth, social security numbers, all those things are already out there on the dark web. So what's what's critical is that we the to access our important websites, like our banks and things like that, you have to change those passwords constantly and don't change them from one dog to the other. Your passwords need to make no sense to anybody. Keep it somewhere where, if you're trusting enough to keep it in an app, which is what I do I change my passwords probably once a month, and they mean nothing.
Speaker 1:All of them.
Speaker 2:All of them and I use a company that it automatically changes them. And then I change them with my banks and everything like that. And it is a great protective measure because, like I said, your information is out there. If you're able to get into the dark web a quick search, you're going to find anything all of our personal information out there. You've got to protect it at the point of where the bad guys are going to try to access your money.
Speaker 1:Right so chief. If someone does fall victim to identity theft, what resources or tools are available to support them through that recovery process?
Speaker 3:So, unfortunately, financial institutions have become so used to these occurring. They've gotten much quicker reversing the fraud once it's reported to them. A lot of the most of the time they'll require some type of police report. So citizens will have to call 9-1-1 and have an officer come out to the house, or they can come meet us at the police department what have you and we'll get the basic information. Typically they're reversed within 24 hours. We do a lot of social media blasts about identity theft. Like Steve said, it's really hard to come back because your information's out there. It's more about education, so the more we can educate the public. Hey, this is what we're seeing. But, to be totally honest, the trends haven't changed in the last seven, eight years. I mean, it's just over and over and over again people just getting victimized or their accounts seized by some perpetrator, and a lot of these cases originate outside the United States, which makes it incredibly difficult for us. It's like hitting a brick wall for us. It's frustrating.
Speaker 1:The lack of change in that seven years? Is that more related to people not paying attention to the campaigns that are being pushed and the information that's available, or boiling down to fear? And how do we address that? It's incredibly difficult.
Speaker 3:I think a lot of it is boiled down to financial institutions being so much better at cleaning it up. It actually let people put their cards down, which is the wrong thing to do, because it's so much easier cleaned up after the fact now because they've gotten so used to it.
Speaker 2:I'm going to agree with the chief. In fact, I was thinking the same thing. It's so easy. If I was victimized and someone charges a few thousand dollars on my credit card, all I do is make a call and it's gone. And it didn't used to be that way. No, it wasn't, and it's very likely. I don't have to call the police anything, it just goes away. And the thing is, the bad guys also win because they're not going after them either. They're writing this off generally and the bad guys get their proceeds. Me as a victim. I made whole and it's just on to the next one, and that is Chief. I agree with you. That is part of the problem.
Speaker 1:So what about the role of AI in all this? Because we've all heard the stories in the last handful of years about people using AI to duplicate a voice, and now that's terrifying.
Speaker 3:We've taken reports of that here.
Speaker 1:So how do you discern whether that's real or not? Because you want to talk about fear. Is you call me or somebody I know and tell them that their loved one is in danger? And you've got their voice? You?
Speaker 2:just unlocked a new fear for me.
Speaker 3:So that's crazy, my best advice would be to call us out to your house, give the officer the information of where they called from. So it is not hard for people to spoof a phone number. It may look like it's coming from the Milton Police Department. It may look like it's coming from FBI Atlanta. They can make it say whatever they want and appear as whatever number they want it to appear, as Technology is awesome and technology is a pain sometimes.
Speaker 3:My advice would be to call us out there if there's anything questionable, or hang up and call that family member. Call another member of your family that knows exactly where that person is. It's great advice. Wait a second they're not out of the country, they're not in jail in Mexico. I just ate breakfast with them. Inquire, yeah, you know, just take it a step further, because that's scary.
Speaker 1:That's the one thing that I worry about, that I would not be able to make that decision.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Besides to maybe ask so-and-so, to call so-and-so while I still have this person online. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's always good to get the police involved. They're objective detached.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:They're not working off of fear.
Speaker 1:Now we're still kind of in that realm of the digital world. I do want to touch real briefly on teen sexting, because I know we're seeing a lot of that and it is a super sensitive topic and it's becoming increasingly prevalent in today's digital age, and it's an issue that is not only complex but it can also have serious legal, emotional and social consequences, especially for minors involved, and it's a conversation that really needs to be handled with care with parents and law enforcement, and law enforcement has a critical role in all this. So, with all that being said, chief, what are some of the legal implications for minors involved in sexting and why is it such a serious issue?
Speaker 3:So what minors don't realize is that transmitting a picture of a minor exposing any part of their self, private parts of their self, is a felony. It is literally transmitting child porn is what it's considered under Georgia state law. Even though they do it themselves, they could be opening themselves up to criminal charges. Obviously, our goal when we get these cases is to minimize the emotional damage and everything else that comes from it. And it's happening. It's happening here, it's happening in middle school.
Speaker 1:And how do you tell your kids we do, we repeat to them all the time don't do that. And it seems like such a common sense issue.
Speaker 3:It's probably different for every family. You know I've had those discussions with my kids. I tell them stories of stuff we deal with at work, hoping that it will educate them enough to not do it. It's incredibly alarming and the best thing to tell your children is once that stuff's out there. It's out there and it's going to get shared and it's going to get blasted all over the place and it can get out of hand real quick.
Speaker 1:Real quick. So, steve, for parents and caregivers, how can we open the conversation about the risk of sexting with our teens without creating an environment of shame or fear?
Speaker 2:That's a tough one. I think the first thing as parents we need to understand that this is not just a couple of children doing this. This is incredibly prevalent yes and you're much more likely to find that the child in their mid-teens who haven't participated in that in the minority, it has become a very regular thing and the reality is is they're the chief said. These children share these things and they become such a point of shame. I mean, there have been children that have done horrific things to themselves.
Speaker 2:You know the news is littered with it over these types of situations. So you know how do parents approach that with the kids. It's almost like having to have that initial discussion with your children about sex in the first place, but you've got to find a way to have that open and honest conversation and if you're not the right person, perhaps a family member who is in their 20s or something along those lines might be the right person to have those conversations.
Speaker 2:But at the end of the day, someone's got to have those conversations, Otherwise it just continues on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what age do you suppose would be the best to start talking about this, because I know kids are starting to get cell phones and access to computers earlier and earlier.
Speaker 2:I think parents really have to start identifying their children's behavior. Some kids mature faster than others. You could have a 10-year-old playing with dolls and a 10-year-old not playing with dolls. So I would recommend that as parents start to see their children mature more and maybe show some interest in the opposite sex, they start to really consider how to approach that.
Speaker 1:Right, and are there ways to monitor that through their cell phones?
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely there's apps and there's several companies out there. Not to plug any specific company, the only one I know of that I used was Bark B-A-R-K, which is a monitoring app, and some phones are more easily monitored than others. Apple products they pride themselves on their security.
Speaker 1:They're not so easy, they're not so easy.
Speaker 3:They only get downloaded into the Bark app, I think every 12 hours or every 24 hours, as Android is real-time. So a parent might get a text from Bark saying hey, there's, an inappropriate image was just sent or just taken or received on your child's device. So there's all kinds of options out there. I would have people do their own research, see what works best for them and their family and the products that they have with phones.
Speaker 1:Are there programs or educational seminars, workshops that we do here in Milton to help our teens?
Speaker 3:So we do partner with again with Fulton County Schools and assist them. We have put on several cell phone safety courses, usually for high school students is typically what they've pulled us into use. But anytime that there is concern by one of our school administrators or one of our private school headmasters, they know that they can reach out to us and we will come and put on a full presentation for as many kids as possible. It is a huge problem and it's not just here in Milton, it is nationwide.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's unfortunate. So in the past, we've talked a lot about community engagement. It seems to be a very common term and a very important term, and it's becoming increasingly a cornerstone of modern law enforcement for many reasons, and I would love to hear both of your perspectives on this. So can you tell me why community engagement is so crucial in today's policing and how does it benefit the residents and the officers?
Speaker 3:Community engagement, in my opinion, is one of our most vital roles at Milton PD. We want the community members to feel comfortable reaching out to us for anything. That starts with being familiar with the community we serve and the community seeing familiar faces in the officers. And the more face time we can get with our community members the better. I think that immediately leads to building trust and legitimacy for our officers in our department and law enforcement profession really, but it's vital.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, steve, you and I chatted before about your previous role in Albany, and so I feel like you can really speak to this firsthand about the impact of strong partnerships in the community. So can you share one of your success stories with that collaboration?
Speaker 2:I have a tremendous number of success stories with that back in my previous world, but here in Milton the chief clearly understands the importance of having that partnership. But I have to say that there are other facets of government that have known the importance of that partnership well before law enforcement recognized the power of it. And to give an example, since I've become city manager and understanding how our community development department works in collaboration with our community, in every planning aspect of what we do, whether it's changing codes or design styles or things like that, it is a constant collaboration with community members and boards and commissions and that is a great model to follow for law enforcement, because you get to hear what people are feeling, what they're thinking, getting their input. We have a very educated public here in the city of Milton and their input is incredibly valuable. So that's something that I've seen as a tremendous success here in Milton and I wish I had known the value of that perhaps you know back in the 1990s.
Speaker 1:Back in the 1990s. We're going there again, huh.
Speaker 2:When I still had a pager and I didn't have to worry about any of this.
Speaker 1:So for residents that are looking to get more involved and we've kind of touched on a lot of them already what are some upcoming opportunities where they can connect with our law enforcement make a positive impact?
Speaker 3:So we have our Citizens Police Academy coming up in February. It's a six-week program. It's one night a week and every night there will be a different topic, whether it's criminal investigations, SWAT team, traffic enforcement we break it up and make it really interesting. They get to see what we do. We have RAD classes coming up in June. Enforcement we break it up and make it really interesting. They get to see what we do. We have rad classes coming up in june.
Speaker 3:rad is a women's self-defense class, so I want to take that rad actually stands for rape aggression defense and we have several certified instructors and participants and role players. It is very hands-on. It is is low impact, you know, depending on everyone's abilities. But I'd watch our Facebook and Instagram pages as there's always opportunities to pop up. We have a shredding event, speaking of identity theft, we have a big shredding event we do every year that's coming up in April, I believe, and of course, we have Police Week in May, where we do a whole host of events and we'll be pushing all that out on our social media sites. But if you have any specific questions about upcoming events, I would urge people to reach out to our community outreach officer Officer Rebecca Tidwell. Her email is rebeccatidwell. That's r-e-b-e-c-c-atidwell t-i-d-w-e-C-A dot Tidwell T-I-D-W-E-L-L at MiltonGAgov, or you can reach her at her desk at 678-242-2527.
Speaker 1:Perfect.
Speaker 3:With any questions about upcoming events. She's the one that puts them all together.
Speaker 1:Perfect, and I will put that information in the show notes so it'll be really easy to access for those that are interested. And I feel like we've had a very full conversation about a lot of things that are prominent in today's society, especially in our community, and I have to say I'm so grateful to both of you for joining us today and sharing your valuable insights. Your expertise and your commitment to keeping Milton safe are truly inspiring, and we're grateful for the practical advice and proactive approaches you both have shared with the listeners. So it's clear that creating a safer, more connected community is the heart of what you do, and we're lucky to have leaders like you serving our city, so I really appreciate you both being here.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that. Thank you, Kristen.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thanks for listening to Milton in Maine. We hope this episode gave you fresh insights into what makes our city so special. Stay connected and don't miss an episode by subscribing to this podcast on your favorite platform and following us on social media for all updates, all updates and, of course, if you want to learn more about the city, visit us online at wwwmiltongagov for resources, news and upcoming events. Until next time, thanks for being part of the conversation and we'll see you on the next Milton and Maine.