Reflecting on his first year as the lead of the Clinton Police Department, Chief Ben Lowers believes it was a good first year.

The first year Police Chief says while there was a lot of crime they did deal with, he felt as though they dealt with it effectively and were pleased many of their cases were able to make it to the court system. Chief Lowers points to social media as one of the effective crime fighting tools they were able to tap into in his first year.

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The Police Department Facebook page was a huge hit and it was no more evident than last summer when the department introduced a program to promote children wearing bike helmets and a post officially went viral.

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According to Chief Lowers, the Facebook page goes beyond promoting what is going on within the department. He explains it has become a great tip-line to the public. Users can submit information privately and the Chief feels that has been a great utility to them receiving information in return from the public.

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Other successes the Chief points to from his first year were the promotion of a few officers and hirings thanks to his promotion leaving positions vacant.

He notes they have also been able to begin revamping their fleet of vehicles with the recent purchase a few new department cars.

He also feels the rejuvenated coordination between the Clinton PD, the Sheriff's office and CrimeStoppers has paid dividends through things like "The Crime of the Week" spots heard throughout the day on WHOW/WEZC/dewittdailynews.com.