Dalton Police Department welcomes new officers

Published 4:29 pm Monday, December 28, 2020

The Dalton Police Department is welcoming four new officers to the ranks of the Patrol Division. Officers Emily Poole, Keith Black, Harrison Murdoch and Griffin Avila recently completed their training at the state police academy. All grew up in the Northwest Georgia area.

Poole grew up in Ringgold and attended Heritage High School in Catoosa County. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Murdoch is also from Ringgold and graduated from Ringgold High School before earning his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of North Georgia. Murdoch served from 2016 until 2019 in the U.S. Army and is serving in the Georgia Guard.

Black comes to the DPD from Rome, where he attended Armuchee High School. Before joining the police department, Black served five years as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy.

Avila is a Dalton native. He attended Dalton High School before finishing high school at Morris Innovative High School. Before joining the DPD, he worked for Mohawk for five years.

The officers are now taking part in the DPD’s Field Training Officer program, in which they ride with and are evaluated by veteran mentor officers for approximately six months before becoming solo officers.