Fayetteville Police Chief Steve Heaton says his officers are very community-minded, especially in terms of giving of themselves in volunteer roles.

In the position for nine months, he started out writing “thank you” style notes to officers who went above and beyond the call of duty. They went to people like the officer who stopped to change a woman’s flat tire ... minutes after giving her a traffic citation. And to the officers who volunteered to help paint over graffiti behind the Movies 10 theater — an operation that was scrapped just before it was to start as officers identified the culprits.

“They’ll be doing the repainting,” Heaton said, cracking a smile.

Now Heaton has another “thank you” weapon in his arsenal to recognize officers who enhance the department: challenge coins. The specially-manufactured full color coins contain a miniaturized Fayetteville police badge on one side and Fayetteville logos on the other.

So far, three officers have been presented the challenge coins:

• Training Officer Steve Crawshaw, who was named the top instructor at the Clayton Regional Law Enforcement Academy. Heaton said that honor was so significant he felt that Crawshaw deserved to be recognized a second time. Crawshaw, who is responsible for the FVPD’s training program, performs duties at the academy on his own time, Heaton noted.

• Support Services Lt. Beverly Trainor, who developed the department’s first internal assessment process for determining promotions. The development saved the department about $8,000 which would normally have been paid to an outside agency to conduct the assessments, which are currently being conducted, Heaton said. Trainor also oversees the department’s public information, accreditation, records and internal affairs functions.

• Sgt. Jeff McMullen, who oversees the department’s K-9 unit. Heaton said McMullen has spent numerous hours on his own time helping rebuild the K-9 program which will add a second K-9 dog in upcoming weeks. The unit will be able to search for escaped persons in addition to sniffing out drugs and other tasks, Heaton said. McMullen even built the new dog’s kennel from scratch, resulting in a significant cost savings for the department, the chief added.

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