Maria Chitwood Named Georgia Assn of Chiefs of Police Administrative Assistant of the Year

Lavonia Police Department Administrative Assistant Maria Chitwood is being honored this week by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police as the 2021 Georgia Assn of Chiefs of Police Administrative Assistant of the Year.

Lavonia Police Chief Bruce Carlisle serves on the Association Board as Chairman of District Representatives.  He said this is a new annual award created this year by Board Members who felt there are other departments and offices that needed to be recognized.

“One of the Board members brought up the fact that we had other people in our organizations that needed to be recognized as well. So we added several other categories; one is Supervisor of the Year, the other is Officer of the Year. The other category we added is Administrative Assistant of the Year. And since they have their own conference we thought it should be announced at their conference,” he explained.

Carlisle submitted Maria’s name but recused himself from the judging process because he serves on the Association Board.

“The State is broken up into 11 districts. The winner of each district those 11 would go in and the Board would vote via secret ballot for the overall winner. Because I’m on the Executive Board I had to recuse myself from the process because I submitted my Administrative Assistant, Maria Chitwood for the award. She won at the District Level and she was unanimously selected as the Administrative Assistant of the Year,” he said.

Maria Chitwood was presented with the award Wednesday night at the Chiefs of Police Administrative Assistant’s Conference banquet in Savannah.

Maria Chitwood has served as the Administrative Assistant for the Lavonia Police Department since 2010.

During that time, Carlisle says she has become an invaluable asset not only to the Department but the community as a whole.

“Through the challenges of this past year, Maria has displayed exemplary skills in adapting to the changes created by a historic pandemic,” he said. “With the police department being closed to the public for several months, she was forced to meet the needs of the public while still following CDC, state, and local guidelines. She was able to devise strategies through web-based platforms, social media, and local media that enabled her to meet those needs and provide professional services to our community.”

Chief Carlisle said during the pandemic Maria has gone above and beyond to find a way to help citizens.

“Fear and uncertainty gripped our community, much like every other community. Maria never wavered in her pursuit to assist the public regardless of the need. During this past year, I watched her search for long periods of time to find a telephone number, address, name, relative, etc. just to assist in helping a member of the public in their time of need. One of her pet peeves is the phrase “there is nothing we can do.” Maria contends that there is always something that can be done and goes out of her way to make sure that she lives up to that motto,” he said.

Chief Carlisle went on to say that during the beginning of the pandemic and associated lockdowns, the City of Lavonia experienced a significant rise in homelessness.

“Maria took on the extra task of working with those individuals in conjunction with our faith-based resources to help find temporary housing, food, and transportation. Many of those cases took extraordinary amounts of time and patience to bring about a sensible, safe, and reasonable solution. Maria worked diligently on each case with never-ending dedication to the task at hand,” he said.

When Municipal Court services were allowed to resume operation, Carlisle said Maria was vital in formulating a plan to ensure that everyone in attendance was kept safe and at the same time, creating a systematic approach toward a smooth and functional court operation.

“I can proudly say that I would put her plan up against any other in the state. Through her efforts, we were able to safely begin to conduct our Municipal Court function that brought praise from even defense attorneys that appeared to represent their clients. Many of those attorneys who have approached me stated that they wished other jurisdictions had taken to the same approach as had been taken in Lavonia,” the Chief explained.

While still on the subject of Municipal Court, Carlisle said Maria has definitely perfected that position. So much so that many Clerks from around the state routinely contact her for guidance and/or direction. She always goes out of her way to assist any and all other Clerks that contact her and if she does not know the answer to a particular question, she will find it expeditiously, he said.

“Maria has also been such a tremendous help to me this year. With almost every meeting being some type of web-based platform, she had to literally teach me how to effectively navigate on those platforms. She has been instrumental in setting up all of my departmental meetings and keeping track of all of my obligations outside of the agency (GACP, Georgia Department of Public Safety, State Certification, and CJCC),” Carlisle said. “Maria has also assisted me in keeping our officers focused during these troubling times for our profession. She possesses values that encourage others to engage in open dialogue and truthfulness. You may not always like what you hear, but I can guarantee that it will be a factually based response that highlights her values.”