Sheriff Jim Hammond is proud to announce a new working partnership between the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). This partnership will commence with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two entities on February 10, 2010, 2:30 p.m. at the Sheriff’s Office located at 600 Market Street. The media is cordially invited to attend.

The Civil Air Patrol is a valuable resource for law enforcement that has not been utilized in the past by law enforcement in Hamilton County. The broad base of expertise that comes with the new alliance will greatly enhance the Sheriff’s Office services to all the people of Hamilton County.

The three main objectives of the CAP are Search and Rescue, Aero Space Education and Cadet Education. The CAP can assist the Sheriff’s Office in such things as search and rescue by air and ground, emergency airlifts and transports, visual reconnaissance and other defined missions. They can accomplish such missions at a fraction of the cost of other agencies, because its members are volunteers who are reimbursed for expense only.

The most recent involvement for CAP in our immediate area was photographing of the flooding that occurred in both Chattanooga and East Ridge. Those photos will greatly assist those cities in better recognizing problem areas and documentation for grant funding.

This new sought-after partnership between the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and the Civil Air Patrol is just one more tool in the Sheriff’s Office arsenal to provide a higher level of service to the people of Hamilton County.