Police Department Honored For Keeping Locals Safe During Ice Storm

SALTILLO, MISS. (WCBI) – A police department in Lee County is recognized for its work keeping the public safe during the recent winter ice and snowstorms.

Police don’t get to take snow days, they still have to be on the job, protecting and serving. And when the ice storm hit a few weeks ago, Saltillo Police took to social media and other forms of communication to keep the public informed. They have been honored for their efforts.

Saltillo Chief Grant Bailey received the plaque of appreciation from Tanya Mayo, quality assurance supervisor for Lee County Communications. She says the police department helped keep many people out of harm’s way through their use of Facebook during the storm.

“They were, several times during the day, on the Facebook page of Saltillo Police, telling us road conditions, all over the city, where they were really bad and urging people to stay off the roads, because there could have been some real problems if they hadn’t done what they did,” Mayo said.

Chief Bailey worked with Public Relations Officer Deundre Poole to coordinate social media posts about road conditions during the week-long ice and snowstorms.

“We just felt like it was something that needed to be done for our citizens out there and never thought it would have touched that many people,” Chief Bailey said.

“I can’t think of a more critical time it was for us to make sure our citizens are safe and knew what was going on out there without putting themselves and their families at risk,” Officer Poole said.

Community members were also recognized for going above and beyond during the winter storm. Radio Station The Farm 95.1 had regular updates from the police chief, and the local Hardee’s may not have had a lot of customers, but they kept police officers fed around the clock.

“When you have an event such as a winter storm that came through the area, we want to make sure we get information out correctly, as quickly as possible, but most importantly, that’s why we teamed up with city officials and the Saltillo police department to keep our citizens safe,” said Kevin Russell, of ‘The Farm 95.1″

“They need to know they can count on us as members of society, to step up to the plate and pull our weight in the community, they went above and beyond to make sure everybody was safe,” said Cyndi Nash, District Manager with Hardee’s.

Chief Bailey says he and his officers were just doing their jobs keeping the public safe, and they would do it again tomorrow. But he hopes it will be a long while before there’s another ice storm.

There was only one reported wreck in Saltillo during the week-long winter storm. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Categories: Local News

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