(Left to right: SWD Community Officer K.A. Kinney, SWD Community Policing Sergeant G.K. Takano, Mr. Benson Kirkman of West CAC, Mr. Jim Paumier of West CAC, former SWD commander Major P.A. Niemann, SWD Lieutenant S.M. Jackson)
On Wednesday, October 17, the Southwest District was presented with a 2012 Neighborhood Recognition Award at a ceremony hosted by the City of Raleigh Community Services Department and the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council at the Five Points Center for Active Adults on Noble Road.
The RCAC, which is made up of the leaders of each of the CACs throughout Raleigh, held its first Neighborhood Recognition Awards ceremony in 1977 to honor groups and individuals for their outstanding efforts to improve the health, safety, and appearance of their neighborhoods. Each CAC presents a Neighborhood Recognition Award to the group or individual of their choice, and the West CAC selected the SWD for the honor because of its officers’ reliable and consistent support of the group’s efforts.
West CAC President Jim Paumier said that the officers of the SWD have been serving the CAC with excellence for the 20-plus years he has been a member of the group. “They attend our monthly meeting, providing 9-1-1 call statistics and answering our questions,” said Mr. Paumier. “They listen to our concerns–drugs, traffic, personal safety–and work on solutions to make our neighborhoods a better place to live.”
“Every time I have ever personally requested something of the Southwest District, they have been there,” said Leslie Bryant, a member of the West CAC. “Whether it be checking a suspicious vehicle, responding to a trespasser, or sitting and comforting a senior around the block after she was mugged in her own yard/foyer, they’ve never failed us.”