WASHINGTON, D.C.  - The Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is pleased to feature the Woodstock Police Department as its “Community Policing in Action” photo contest winner for the month of November.

The winning photo features the Woodstock Police Department Honor Guard (Officer Keith McGaw, Officer Brad DeWoody, and Lieutenant Mark Hand) escorting Mr. Chester Reeve, a World War II veteran, during the annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Park at City Center, Woodstock, Georgia.

See the photo on the COPS Office website, Twitter, and Facebook, and read the corresponding article in the COPS Office e-newsletter, the Community Policing Dispatch (photo courtesy of the Woodstock Police Department).

The COPS Office piloted the photo contest in 2015 to highlight positive community policing efforts across the country. After receiving an overwhelming number of submissions, the COPS Office made the photo contest an annual event. The 2016 contest garnered more than 300 photos, submitted by more than 200 agencies during the one-month submission period. The COPS Office selected 12 winning photos to feature monthly and announced them in January of this year.

To learn more about the Community Policing in Action Photo Contest, visit http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/photocontest.

The COPS Office, headed by Director Ronald Davis, is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of approximately 129,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training and technical assistance. For additional information about the COPS Office, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.