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Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Social workers get new safety app
Courtesy of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services
On Monday, the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services went live with a phased rollout of a new security system
by distributing to child-welfare investigators and case managers panic buttons that connect to the Click Safe mobile
phone application.
Georgia designs Click Safe to help ensure employee security
BY JOSHUA SILAVENT
jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com
Social workers across Georgia can
sometimes face hostile, threatening
and dangerous incidents and behav
ior when working in the field.
On Monday, the Georgia Division
of Family and Children Services went
live with a phased rollout of a new
security system by distributing to
child-welfare investigators and case
managers panic buttons that con
nect to the Click Safe mobile phone
application.
“These professionals must go
wherever necessary to safeguard
children,” Tom Rawlings, interim
DFCS director, said in a press release.
“They can’t choose the places or situ
ations they enter.”
When pressed, the button on a key
fob transmits a signal via Bluetooth
to a phone app on the worker’s state-
issued mobile device. The phone then
silently notifies the agency’s call cen
ter where a trained operator contacts
the nearest 911 center with details
on the alarm, a description of the
employee, the location and a request
to rush law enforcement officers to
the scene.
To prevent accidental triggering
of the device, the button must be
pressed either for five seconds or five
times in succession.
‘Our child-safety
professionals are
trained to de-escalate
unpleasant situations,
but having a panic
button gives them
assurance that help
will be there if their
verbal techniques aren’t
successful.’
Tom Rawlings
Interim DFCS director
The system operates silently and
out of sight to keep from alerting
anyone threatening a case worker
that law enforcement is responding,
which could make a tense situation
even more dangerous.
Engineers at the Georgia Tech
Research Institute developed the
system at the request of Gov. Nathan
Deal.
“Georgia Tech is proud to be part
of this innovative collaboration
(Q) Online
To watch a demonstration of the
Click Safe mobile application for
social workers, visit https://youtu.
be/KIPi6EUdlXY.
between the Georgia Tech Research
Institute, the state of Georgia, and the
Department of Family and Children
Services,” Georgia Tech President
G.P. “Bud” Peterson said. “We expect
the Click Safe emergency-response
system to become a powerful tool in
helping protect DFCS case manag
ers and child-welfare investigators
in sometimes-dangerous situations
as they focus on their vital work
of ensuring the safety of Georgia’s
children.”
Child-welfare workers are not
armed, do not have badges and have
no arrest powers.
They call on local police agencies
for support when they know they are
going to a risky situation, but Click
Safe is designed to protect them in
cases where a seemingly peaceful
assignment turns dangerous.
“Our child-safety professionals
are trained to de-escalate unpleasant
situations, but having a panic button
gives them assurance that help will be
there if their verbal techniques aren’t
successful,” Rawlings said.
Police: Man
hallucinating
while tossing
fire bombs
Flowery Branch resident
reported burglars were
breaking into his home
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Flowery Branch man allegedly crafted Molotov
cocktails out of baby food bottles and gasoline after
he had hallucinations about burglars breaking into his
home in November, police said.
Flowery Branch Police responded
Nov. 16 to a home on Mitchell Street
regarding a burglary in progress call.
The resident, Danny Ray Stephens,
60, said there were “four male subjects
outside his home trying to break in,”
whom he described as camouflaged
and armed with guns, according to the
police report.
“Mr. Stephens said that he felt threat
ened for his life so he decided to make Molotov cocktails
out of baby food bottles and gasoline, and he threw three
of them into the yard where they caught the grass on
fire,” according to the report.
Stephens also told officers he went to the backyard
and fired his shotgun at one of the subjects.
He called his ex-girlfriend who then called 911.
Stephens was asked if he had been drinking or under
the influence of any drugs, to which he said “no, that he
hasn’t smoked marijuana in about a month and that he
had only taken his medication prescribed by his doctor,”
according to the report.
Police found his medication as well as a substance that
field-tested positive for marijuana.
“Mr. Stephens was having hallucinations, probably
from some of the medications he was taking. He was
seeing things that weren’t real,” Flowery Branch Police
Investigator Robin Kemp wrote in an email.
Kemp continued to say there was “no validity to (Ste
phens’) claim of burglars.”
A Magistrate Court judge issued three warrants for
possession of marijuana, reckless conduct and posses
sion of an explosive device.
Stephens was booked Sunday, Dec. 2 in to the Hall
County Jail on these charges, and he was released Tues
day, Dec. 4.
Hall County Jail officials did not answer the phone
when The Times called for information on Stephens’
release.
Stephens’ attorney Brett Willis declined to comment.
The number listed for Stephens through electronic
records was disconnected.
BLUE RIDGE
Boys, both 15, held in man’s death
Authorities say two 15-year-old boys have been
charged in the death of a 33-year-old man.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says on its web
site that the teens are from Blairsville. They have been
arrested in connection with the shooting death of Justin
McKinney of Morganton
The GBI says the sheriff’s office in Fannin County
in north Georgia received a call early Tuesday from a
woman who said she and a man had been shot. When
deputies arrived on the scene, they found McKinney
dead. The woman was taken to a hospital.
Officials have not released information on the boys’
relationship to the victims or a possible motive. The
GBI says the teens were arrested on a murder charge
and other charges were pending.
Associated Press
This rendering shows plans for the new Enota School Smartville Garden.
For The Times
GARDEN
■ Continued from 1A
learning, such as instruc
tional and outdoor dining
areas for students and par
ents; as well as raised planter
boxes so that students can
learn to grow and harvest
what they eat.
An archway will also be
constructed leading from the
school into the garden.
Gainesville City Schools
will contract with Tri Scapes
Inc. of Cumming for the
approximately $133,000
project.
The Board of Education
also approved spending
about $24,000 to construct
two outdoor basketball
courts (non-regulation size),
with plans to contract with
Cornerstone Foundations
and Concrete Inc. of Gaines
ville on that project.
Superintendent Jeremy
Williams said students and
parents wanted more play
areas within the garden,
which is why the courts are
being added.
Funding for both projects
comes from special pur
pose local option sales tax
revenue.
“I’m really delighted at
the opportunity we’ve had to
work with the garden com
mittee,” Enota Principal
Wesley Roach said. “I think
everyone is going to be real
pleased with what they’ve
come up with. So, we’re very
excited.”
