Officer Connie Curtis Receives Outstanding Service Award

The DeKalb Bar Association’s first Outstanding Service award goes to Connie Curtis, an officer who has been with the department since 2003 and has been assigned to the DUI Task Force/STAR Team since 2009. During her tenure she has maintained a high level of professionalism and on numerous occasions exhibited superior leadership ability.

Officer Curtis began her career at South Precinct working as a uniformed patrol officer assigned to the morning watch shift. Because of her aggressive traffic patrols and increased level of productivity, she was approved for specialized classes in the realm of DUI enforcement and traffic direction and control. She also became a certified field training officer and has trained more than 20 uniformed officers while in Uniform Division.

In September 2009, Curtis was transferred to the Special Operations Division’s Strategic Traffic Accident Reduction (STAR) Team/DUI Task Force and assigned to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) unit. The STAR team specializes in enforcement of Impaired Driving, Aggressive Driving, Speeding, and Occupant Protection laws. The mission of the STAR team is to reduce fatalities, severity of injuries, and number of injuries associated with motor vehicle crashes.

After receiving additional specialized training in DUI enforcement, Curtis was awarded the Special Operations STAR Team Member of the Year for 2010. As part of the HEAT Unit, she has participated in national safety campaigns such as Click It or Ticket, Operation Zero Tolerance, 100 Days of Summer Heat and Operation Rolling Thunder.

Officer Curtis has attended a 24-hour course in Standardized Field Sobriety Testing approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and has received certifications for Field Training Officer, Child Passenger Safety Technician, Instructor, and Drug Recognition Expert. She continually performs at the top of her unit with more than 500 DUI arrests and continues to educate her community and peers through participation in roll call seminars, DUI training for police officers, civilian police academies, and community meetings.

Curtis continues to be one of the highest producers on the team and sets a standard for other team members to strive for. During 2012 she made 223 DUI contacts, 146 occupant protection contacts and 712 speeding contacts. She also issued 1,510 traffic citations during that same period.

Curtis has a distinguished career in law enforcement and with the DeKalb County Police Department. She has taken the knowledge and experience she has gained over the years and used it for the betterment of the department, the unit and her fellow officers. According to Sgt. D.B. Barden, she constantly strives to ensure that department goals are met with the resources available. She can be counted upon to complete any assignment and will complete those assignments at the highest level of effectiveness. Her skills are second to none and she has consistently shown her dedication to this department.

During this year Curtis has gone far and beyond her normal duties by obtaining certification as a Certified Police Instructor (80 hours), a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) (240 hours) and as a state certified DRE Instructor. There are only 165 state-certified DREs, only 39 DRE instructors in Georgia. Curtis is the first and only female DRE instructor within the state.