Fort Oglethorpe Police Department Capt. Gary McConathy is named the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Officer of the Year for his region. McConathy volunteered to organize the Hands Across the Border program in 2015 in the Mountain Area Traffic Enforcement Network. His good job on the program helped him earn the award.Job openings
The Fort Oglethorpe Police Department has 31 full-time positions, but only 27 on staff. So, the department is hiring to fill four vacant spots.
Fort Oglethorpe Police Capt. Gary McConathy is the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Officer of the Year for the Mountain Area Traffic Enforcement Network. The Office partners with local law enforcement agencies on 16 regional Traffic Enforcement Networks.
The MATEN comprises Whitfield, Chattooga, Murray, Dade, Walker, Gordon, Catoosa, Floyd, Polk and Bartow counties.
“I was shocked to get the award,” McConathy said, adding he placed in the top two three times in the Governor’s Challenge in the past. “The network coordinator and assistant coordinator selects an officer that best exemplifies the goals of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. They felt that since I stepped up to help them during a change that I should get the award.”
New network coordinator Chris Dehart nominated him for the award.
“I used to love working with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, so I helped them get over the hump of new administration,” McConathy said in regards to why he won the award. “The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety had a new coordinator and an assistant coordinator and some issues came up, so the network coordinator had to step down. We were coming up on the Hands Across the Border where the state of Georgia over Labor Day weekend has saturated patrols to target aggressive driving on all borders of the state. They had to have another special election. Lt. Dehart asked me to step up to get Hands Across the Border coordinated. The reason for this award is when they needed someone, I volunteered.”
McConathy said he became interested in law enforcement because of the influence of his brother, Georgia State Patrol Sgt. First Class James McConathy. SFC McConathy started out at Fort Oglethorpe Police Department. He has spent 25 years with the Georgia State Patrol.
Capt. McConathy is following in his brother’s footsteps, since he has been with the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department for 25 years. Capt. McConathy said he also chose to join the Fort Oglethorpe team because it has one of the best benefits packages around.
In the mid-1990s, former Fort Oglethorpe Police Chief David Wyrick looked into getting a grant for a traffic unit through the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. That’s how Capt. McConathy’s career path went toward traffic and networking.
Capt. McConathy completed the paperwork and research for a Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Grant for $272,000 which helped start the department’s traffic unit.
“We started the traffic unit and the police chief put me over it,” said Capt. McConathy. “I was responsible for all the maintenance and paperwork that went along with the grant. I had to keep up and track all the money distribution. We did not get our first computers for patrol until 1997. I supervised the traffic unit and patrol shift. The grant was awarded from 1995 to 1998. Those three years, I managed the grant, supervised the traffic unit and ran a shift of patrol as a watch commander. All total we got 10 to 12 grants since 1995 for traffic safety.”
Capt. McConathy is a Level 5 Accident Re-constructionist after training in Chicago for the designation. He earned his designation of captain March 14, 2013.