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Public safety briefs

Citizen’s Academy registration ends Wednesday

Peachtree City Police Department will host a Citizen’s Police Academy from Jan. 15 to March 19. Classes will be held 6 to 8 p.m. each Thursday.

The 10-week course will include topics such as crime scene processing, juvenile operations, Officer Survival, Traffic Laws/DUI offenses, Criminal Investigations Operations and Firearm Simulation Exercises. Only 25 applicants will be selected.

Applicants must be at least 18, a city resident, local business owner or an employee with the city of Peachtree City. Applicants will be required to sign a Hold Harmless Agreement and will be subject to a criminal history and driver’s license background check as a pre-condition to acceptance into the academy.

Applications are available on-line, or can be obtained from the library, 201 Willowbend Road; City Hall, 151 Willowbend Road; and the police department, 350 Ga. Highway 74. The deadline is today.

For more information, call 770-487-8866 or visit www.peachtree-city.org/police/.

Phone scam on the rise

Fayette County Sheriff’s Officials urge residents to beware of a jail inmate telephone scam on the rise.

Inmates in the Fulton County and Bartow County jails have targeted a few Fayette County residents. In this scam, the inmate randomly scans the telephone book, makes a collect call and executes the phone call using a name associated to the name the phone is listed in, Fayette County Sheriff Randall Johnson said in a prepared statement.

“The person who answers the telephone is influenced to accept the call because they are familiar with the name,” Johnson said. “Once the victim accepts the call then the inmates give a sob story usually a family emergency to persuade the victim to dial a number for them by using #72. Pound (#) 72 is a call forwarding command.”

By activating this command, the inmate is able to call the requested number dialed by the victim and all phone charges are sent back to the victim. Once the phone call is made, the telephone will not ring at the victim’s residence. However, the victim is being charged for the call, Johnson explained.

Residents who have been impacted by this scam should contact the jail from which the collect call was initiated for assistance to cancel this call forwarding command. If the fraud was initiated from the Fayette County jail, residents can call 770-461-6353, officials said.