AEDC Police Force hosts annual meeting with area law enforcement representatives

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  AEDC's Police Department held an annual "working luncheon" that brought law enforcement agency representatives from throughout middle Tennessee together at the Arnold Lakeside Center Friday, Feb. 25.

AEDC Police Chief Rick Trull said there were approximately 50 officers from 12 departments who attended the event.

"This is an opportunity for the local agencies surrounding Arnold to get together and discuss enforcement issues that impact all of us," he said. "As I stated at the luncheon, if Arnold is ever adversely affected by a terroristic act or anything similar, it will pass through one of the local communities before it gets to us. If we can detect it out there, we have a much better chance of intercepting it before it impacts the base. Additionally, we often respond to incidents out in our wooded and wildlife management areas either as a secondary response or as a mutual aid response. These meetings allow us to talk through responses and mutual support."

For Charlie Sewell, chief of the McMinnville Police Department, the visit to Arnold AFB was his first.

"I had no idea the event was going to be comprised of that many members of law enforcement," Sewell said. "I was pleasantly surprised to see representatives from so many agencies, and especially those agencies that I rarely get to have interactions [with].
"When law enforcement officers know each other they are much more likely to reach out for assistance. We share crime trends and investigate similar types of crime. Information sharing can be a great investigative tool in solving crime."

According to Steve Luttrell, AEDC Police Force investigator, who did all the coordinating for the event, it serves as an opportunity to become better acquainted and share information on issues all agencies have in common.

"It's more of a working luncheon where local police departments, sheriff's departments and law enforcement get together to talk about general topics of mutual concern," Luttrell said. "[We discuss] criminal activity in the area or processes where we might be able to help each other and the budget problems we have now.

"We will be talking with the sheriff's departments about multi-jurisdictional SWAT teams or response teams and things like that."

Sewell added, "Networking is a very valuable part of law enforcement. Every incident that we deal with is different from the next. It has been my experience after nearly four decades in the profession that when I face an unusual or difficult situation, someone from another law enforcement agency has already addressed that situation.

"This is more particularly true in regards to issues with personnel. An event like this is also a good time to share information about best practices, training topics and pros and cons of certain equipment."

Luttrell's son Heath, who is assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Chattanooga, also attended the event at AEDC.

"I am assigned to a DEA taskforce in Chattanooga as a task force officer," he said. "Any time we can get together and share information and just see what's going on in the community, it's always a good thing. I'm in the reserves, the Air Guard, so I come out here all the time."

Sgt. Steve Moore, with the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), was among other THP officers who attended the luncheon.

Moore, an Air Force retiree, had been at AEDC a year earlier to attend the first Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) certification for a large number of Arnold's Police Force officers. He said last week's luncheon provided a good opportunity for law enforcement agency representatives to find common ground and get better acquainted.

"I've always been involved out here," he said.

Chief Trull said, "The THP are some of our closest neighbors, being just a few miles down the road at the state weigh station on I-24 and they provide us with great information and support in the area of large vehicle movements and violations as well as HAZMAT awareness and vehicle inspection information for tractor/trailers."

AEDC Staff Judge Advocate Major Mitzi Weems also attended the luncheon.

"It is important for the base legal office to build relationships with local law enforcement so we can partner with them in supporting military victims and witnesses of crimes, or in our prosecution of a military member who has committed a crime off base," she said.

Tennessee State Rep. Judd Matheny, who has a background in law enforcement, spoke to those attending the event about current law enforcement-related bills that are pending in the Tennessee House of Representatives.