Retired Police Chief Honored
Ralph Dawe recently retired from the Scottsboro Police Department. He was honored at his retirement party, where many community members, city leaders, and officers filled the Gail J. Duffey Auditorium at Scottsboro City Hall.
Chief Dawe served 14 years as Scottsboro’s Police Chief and worked with the department for 31 years. He has played a significant role in many major improvements and accomplishments in the Scottsboro Police Department since 1992.
He has applied for and received $394,950.00 in federal grant money to promote and implement COPS in our school program. He applied for and received $134,066.00 federal grant money to help with methamphetamine investigations and to upgrade the technical equipment within the department such as computerized fingerprinting, computers, and state of the art police software. Chief Dawe applied for and received another federal grant for $200,000.00 to place computers in patrol cars for real time connectivity between officers and dispatchers in effort to keep the community safe in a more efficient and modern manner.
Accomplishments: school resource officers, failure to appear ordinance, records management software, computer aided dispatch, in-car computers, new police headquarters and jail, new policy and procedure manual, implemented warrant division, distracted driving ordinance, wreck rotation regulation ordinance, city-wide encrypted two-way radio, night shift differential pay for officers, jailers and dispatchers, procured and implemented the fats system (shooting scenario simulator), purchase of 13 Chevy Tahoes to add to police fleet so that each officer can be assigned their own car, and take home vehicles for officers that live within 35 miles from city hall.
Chief Dawe and the department work very closely with the surrounding local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to better enhance the quality of life in the City of Scottsboro.
Chief Dawe is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia and belongs to the FBI National Academy Association. He has attended many continuing education classes, conferences, and training seminars in all aspects of the criminal justice field. He is also a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, International Narcotic Association, Alabama Narcotic Association, and a charter member of the Alabama Criminal Investigators Association.
Since his official retirement date on June 1, 2020, Dawe has been quite busy. He does side work in the private investigation field and has several jobs at home he has been catching up on. Dawe is also running for the Scottsboro City Council.
“It’s very scary, I know a lot of people that I have been talking to around Scottsboro, they are scared to death of what the world is coming to. I definitely think we need law and order and police officers to help people because that’s what our police department has done in the 31 years I’ve been here,” said Dawe.
Dawe says he will miss having the opportunity to serve the Scottsboro community and his coworkers.
Retired Police Chief Honored
