Views from the 2017 Commissioner's Challenge

On April 21st, the Special Operations Unit of the Division of Operations and Compliance hosted the Fourth Annual Special Operations Commissioner’s Challenge at Jackson State Prison. The competition was held among the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Security Emergency Response Team (SERT), Special Management Response Team (SMRT) and High Intensity Team Supervision (HITS) teams. The training was a combination of leadership skills and physical challenges including obstacle courses, running trails and a competitive tug-of-war.

DJJ personnel designed the endurance course and 24 trainers from the Office of Training assisted in the overall scoring of the courses. Ten teams were staged at three different courses and competed for the coveted Commissioner’s Trophy, which will be showcased in the Commissioner’s suite at the DJJ Central Office. The trophy is a symbol of the excellence in DJJ’s elite Special Operations team statewide.

After the teams completed the courses, Assistant Commissioner Keith Horton, Deputy Commissioner Sarah Draper, Deputy Commissioner Catina Martin-Fenner, Director Montrail Mitchell and Commander Jesse Dewberry presented the awards.

This year’s winners and award recipients include:

Commissioner’s Trophy: SMRT Team 1

1st Place Overall Team Award: SMRT Team 1

2nd Place Team Award: HITS South

3rd Place Team Award: Eastman YDC

Top Leadership Course Award: SMRT Team 1

Top Endurance Award: Sumter YDC

Top Obstacle Course Award: SMRT Team 1

Top Tug-of-War Team Award: Eastman YDC SERT

Wilbert Barrett, SMRT and statewide key control officer, was honored for his 23 years of service to DJJ and congratulated on his retirement in May. Special thanks to all of the staff and volunteers for planning and hosting the annual event. Congratulations to all of the participants and winners!