Earlier this month the Winter Park Police Department (WPPD) was pleased to receive its re-accreditation status from the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, Inc. (CFA) – the state’s respected authority in charge of accrediting local police agencies that meet their 250 stringent standard points. Each law enforcement group has a specific set of standards outlined by the CFA that’s exclusively designed for them.

According to Bob Merchant, CFA’s Commissiner and Police Chief of the Altamonte Springs Police Department, receiving the commission’s recognition is a mark of a law enforcement agency that puts the utmost importance in serving the interests of the community above all else. The long-time police officer spoke about the importance of accreditation at a City Commission Meeting held in Winter Park on the 8th of February.

The WPDD first received accreditation in 2000, and received the status twice more in 2003 and 2006. December of last year marked the end of the designation, during the period, a team of law enforcement reviewers from other agencies in Florida came to Winter Park to asses the competence and work ethic of the city’s police force.

With the WPDD’s re-accreditation, we think it’s pretty safe to say that they passed with flying colors.

Residents from the City of Winter Park, Fl, have a reason to celebrate after the Department of Homeland Security lent some assistance in the form of $224,100 as part of the government department’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program. The money will be used by the Winter Park Fire-Rescue Department to purchase new, state-of-the-art cardiac monitor/defibrillators for the department’s existing Advanced Life Support Units.

On most cases when the WBFD s called to an emergency situation, cardiac monitoring is performed by paramedics and sometimes even firemen. Those suffering from sudden heart attacks have a higher chance of surviving thanks to the defibrillator’s use of therapeutic electrical charges. The new monitors will also be used to provide ECG readings, helping medical personnel root out the cause of the heart attack.

The new monitor/defibrillators use the latest in today’s medical technology and are especially useful due to their compact and lightweight design. Durability is also not a problem – something that is a major concern for the fire department since most of the time, they’re called to extreme emergency situations and environments. Each machine features color, scratch-resistant displays that are also water resistant.

Fire Chief Jim White could not be happier with the news, saying that the grant will finally help them replace their 10-year old machines.

The City of Winter Park, Fl, recently picked DigitalPersona, Inc. to take care of the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) mandates authentication component. The city selected DigitalPersona Pro as well as DigitalPersona Privacy Manager Pro to secure their local networks and programs used at Winter Park’s City Hall.

DigitalPersona, Inc. is one of the word’s leading providers of fingerprint identity and authentication solutions for businesses, program developers, and regular consumers. The company develops software and hardware that secures the sensitive information of people and businesses.

Among the facilities the new systems will “keep watch” over are the department of motor vehicles, electric division, as well as the city’s roster of emergency and police vehicles. Furthermore, confidential and sensitive information is kept secure thanks to digital signing and use of an ultra-sophisticated encryption code for e-mails and important documents.

Before DigitalPersona, Inc. was chosen by the City of Winter Park, they used usernames and passwords to protect networks from intruders and unauthorized personnel. But every hacker worth his gold knows this level of security is too easy to break into. The CJIS mandate however, called for Winter Park to utilize advanced authentication systems. Officials from the city commented that DigitalPersona was the best choice due to their excellent track record.

Residents from the City of Winter Park, FL, may have been a bit disappointed to learn that part of the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art was closed to the public, but that’s bound to change when the museum finally fully opens before the year ends.

Regular visitors will delight in knowing that the museum will be better and more importantly, bigger. The Morse—as it is more commonly known—will also house collections from Louis Comfort Tiffany’s long-demolished estate in Long Island, Laurelton Hall.

The renovated and expanded Morse—which took around $5 million to pull off—will also be putting on display Tiffany’s famed Daffodil Terrace, something never-before seen in Winter Park. Aside from paintings, antiques such as lamps, windows, furniture, and more can also be found in the new Morse.

The expanded section of the Morse will include a library, a conference room for meetings, and an additional 6,000 square feet of exhibit space.

According to the Morse’s curator Lawrence Ruggiero, he and his staff are nervous and excited at how things will turn out – whether it will draw in visitors or not.

The museum is expected to fully open in winter this year.

Fate was kind enough to let Winter Park resident Gina Denny watch the movie Sherlock Holmes from beginning to end, for the moment she stepped out of the theater, she knew it was time for her baby to come out.

She and her husband immediately dashed—a quick walk for a pregnant lady like Gina—to Winter Park Memorial Hospital, where she gave birth to a baby boy they named Ryder.

The very healthy 9-pound and 3 ounce baby also happened to be the year’s first baby for the entire Central Florida region.

Although he was scheduled to be born on January 6 through a C-Section, Gina Denny was happy—and relieved—that the process was normal and the baby healthy. The fact that he arrived during the first few minutes of 2010 is an added special bonus though, she adds smiling.

On the other hand, the thought of Ryder being Winter Park’s first baby did cross her husband J.D.’s mind at one point, given her due date and all.

Hospital officials have confirmed other New Year’s births, but none are as close to 12 midnight as Ryder’s.

Special gifts from the hospital and celebrity-treatment by the media made the occasion even more special for this family.