They’re on the streets every day, patrolling to keep the residents of Athens-Limestone safe from all manner of crimes and mischief.
Athens Police Department and Limestone County Sheriff’s Office protect residents of this county 24/7, constantly watching for threats while also trying to connect with community members to build relationships that extend beyond the more negative interactions of tickets and arrests.
The News Courier spoke with both APD and LCSO to determine their biggest accomplishments of 2023 and goals for 2024. Despite the differences between the two, there were a few commonalities.
Staffing
APD and LCSO saw increase of staffing in 2023, and both organizations need that to continue into 2024.
“We are like most agencies, still struggling to recruit new officers,” APD Chief Anthony Pressnell said. “This is currently a nationwide issue in law enforcement.”
The department has one new hire in the police academy, and there are two new officers that are planning to join in the coming weeks.
“We have a very detailed hiring process to ensure we hire the best person for a police officer position. It takes us several weeks to complete the background on an applicant,” Pressnell said.
As far as APD’s staffing, the chief himself is in a different position than he started 2023, due to the retirement of longtime chief Floyd Johnson. The new chief hopes to take his department to fully staffed in 2024.
LCSO did not change leadership this year, but Sheriff Josh McLaughlin said that one of his office’s biggest accomplishments in 2023 was adding two new patrol deputies and two additional investigators.
According to McLaughlin, these new hires will “bolster resources available to Limestone County citizens.”
In 2024, McLaughlin said that he shares the same goal as APD.
“We will continue to work on increasing the number of officers we have,” McLaughlin said.
Partners
Both organizations credited their partners for their success in 2023.
Pressnell said that his transition into his new position as chief would not have gone as smoothly as it did without help.
“The transition went very smoothly. Chief Johnson was a tremendous help in the transition, as well as the city council, mayor Marks and everyone at city hall. Without everyone’s assistance this would not have gone as smoothly as it did. I cannot thank everyone enough for all the assistance they have given me and the department during this time,” Pressnell said.
McLaughlin and LCSO partnered with elected officials to hire new staff, and he also credited other task forces with helping to make arrests and protect Limestone County.
“Partnering with task forces resulted in removing large quantities of illegal narcotics from our streets, indictments and convictions that will keep a number of drug dealers off of our streets for years,” McLaughlin said.
He said that this dedication to protecting Limestone from criminals will certainly continue into 2024.
“We will also continue to work diligently to identify and arrest criminals in our community,” McLaughlin said.
Bettering Athens-Limestone
Both leaders want to focus on improving Athens-Limestone and their organizations’ service of the community.
Pressnell wants to become fully staffed and continue to work with the Athens City School system to build relationships and keep students safe. He is also looking forward to getting involved in the Chili Challenge again in 2024.
“Community engagement is something we are big on as well. The Chili Challenge is coming back this year, and in the past, our department won the best booth several years in a row, so we are looking forward to winning again,” Pressnell said.
McLaughlin wants his office to better serve the community by focusing on training officers and protecting Limestone County.
“We will continue to work on increasing … officer training and effective ways to better serve and protect our community,” McLaughlin said.