Georgia Association of Women in Public Safety
Georgia Association of Women in Public Safety

About Us

Learn more about us!

The Georgia Association of Women in Public Safety (GAWPS) was created with a vision to provide professional growth opportunities for women that are employed in fire, law enforcement, or emergency communication services in the state of Georgia through mentoring, networking, and training.

GAWPS is a non-profit organization sponsored and administered directly by public safety practitioners. Our mission is to create opportunities that facilitate professional growth through training, education, and mentoring for women in Public Safety in the State of Georgia.

The general purpose of the Georgia Association of Women in Public Safety is to promote the achievements and needs of women in public safety; to provide an environment that encourages growth, professional development and success for women across public safety disciplines through education and networking opportunities; serve as an identifiable resource for public safety leaders seeking solutions for recruiting, retention, career development, and promotional opportunities.

ambulance

Our Mission

Create avenues that facilitate professional growth through training, education, and mentoring for women in public safety throughout the state of Georgia.

Our Story

Read a little about our history

Our association started with a vision that Sgt. Courtney Gale, Athens-Clarke County Police Department, had regarding the need for a network for women in public safety in Georgia to be able to:
fire truck

She began talking with others about this concept and hosted a one-day training at her agency to determine if others agreed that there was a need for such a group. However, it was clear that this group should not be exclusive to law enforcement and there was a goal to broaden our mission to other public safety professionals such as communications, fire, and ems.

The first training event was a success with positive feedback from attendees that there was a need for this type of training event and networking opportunity in Georgia.

The group of accomplished professionals continued to meet with other women to discuss this idea and the group of women more formally discussed the idea in early 2015. From that meeting, the inaugural Georgia Women in Public Safety Leadership Conference was planned and hosted at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in September of 2015.

This event brought together 188 attendees representing various local and state public safety disciplines in Georgia, to include:

female doctor

Bylaws

Please click the icon above to view our Bylaws, the governance document for our association.