LaGrange Public Safety Director Lou Dekmar will receive lifetime achievement honors at the 12th annual Governor’s Public Safety Awards on Dec. 2 at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth.

Gov. Sonny Perdue will deliver the keynote address and Dekmar will be presented with the “Outstanding Contribution” award for his “overwhelming positive effect, professional accomplishment and unprecedented service to the law enforcement community.”

“I’m surprised and humbled,” Dekmar said Friday. “A lot of folks around the state have contributed a lot during the course of their careers and any number of them could have gotten this award. I’m grateful and appreciative for the recognition.”

Dekmar has spent 32 years in law enforcement, including nearly 15 as chief of police and public safety director in LaGrange, with management responsibility for the city’s 180-member police and fire departments.

The awards committee said Dekmar “has transformed the police department into one of the nation’s leading departments. Lou has been a captivating and dynamic instructor since 1992, and has provided more than 500 training programs to police chiefs, elected officials and other law enforcement personnel across the country.” He has been an adjunct instructor for Co-lumbus State University, Georgia Law Enforcement Command College, La-Grange College, Georgia College & State University and Eastern Wyoming College.

In 1997, he was named Chief of the Year by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police.

Dekmar is well known for his work with the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies for which he served as an assessor from 1996 to 2003, and he is only Georgian who has been chairman of the organization.

In 1997, he initiated an assessment of the GBI Crime Lab to learn the reasons for case backlogs. His committee’s report was submitted to the governor and the Legislature, resulting in an unprecedented $45 million funding increase to expand services and obtain new lab equipment for the lab, and the backlog of cases was dramatically reduced.

From 2003 to 2005, Dekmar served as an advisory member of the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services. In 2004, he was chosen as a delegate to Israel with the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange. Upon his return, Dekmar became member of the exchange’s board of directors and he continues to serve on the board. That same year, the governor appointed Dekmar as a board member of the State Board of Public Safety.

“Chief Dekmar’s leadership and dedication to the law enforcement community have been instrumental in advancing the delivery of police services in Georgia and across the nation,” the awards committee said.

Dekmar was a former chief of detectives in Perry and a former police chief in Morrow where Tom Hall was city manager at the time. Hall, now city manager in LaGrange, asked Dekmar to follow him here.

“I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this recognition than Lou,” Hall said. “I have worked with Lou for 18 years in two different cities and he has always been a consummate professional and leader in his field. LaGrange is very fortunate to have him leading our public safety services. It is a privilege to work with him.”

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.