Smyrna Police Chief Kevin Arnold released a statement today in partnership with the Child Advocacy Center's ongoing 19 Days of Activism campaign. Arnold gives current statistics regarding how many reported cases Smyrna Police has responded to over the past two years.
Chief Kevin Arnold gave this statement:
"From January 1, 2017 until October 31, 2017 the Smyrna Police Department has responded to 155 reported child abuses within the Town limits of Smyrna. During this same time period in 2016 the Smyrna Police Department responded to 148 times to reported child abuse cases. The Police Department takes very seriously the health and well-being of every child in Smyrna. That is why we have specially trained detectives such as Detective Toni Harris and Detective James Scott who are assigned to our Special Victims Unit. They are responsible for investigating all crimes involving children and do follow up investigations on domestic violence. They work daily with our partners at the Child Advocacy Center of Rutherford County, the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, and the Rutherford County District Attorney to make sure children can grow in safe environments and perpetrators are arrested and prosecuted."
The mission statement of the Smyrna Police Department states "To maintain a partnership with the community that will provide a safe and secure environment in which we all can live and our children can flourish." This mission statement was created by Chief Michael Beach almost 20 years ago and the Police Department continues to promote that philosophy to all of our officers.
Becoming aware of this issue in Rutherford and Cannon Counties is the first step towards creating a better community. The Child Advocacy Center provides free child abuse prevention trainings in the Rutherford and Cannon County communities. Darkness to Light: Stewards of Children training materials provide participants the knowledge of how to respond if a child discloses abuse. Contact Keylon Holloway with the Child Advocacy Center, at 615-867-9000 to schedule free child abuse prevention training. For more information on the 19 Days of Activism visit the Women's World Summit Foundation website at http://19days.woman.ch/index.php/en/
