- March 5, 2025
Two volunteers with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office were recognized Wednesday at the Palm Coast precinct for completing certification as Traffic Crash Investigators.
Peter Petropulos and Robert Humphries are volunteers with the Citizens Observer Patrol, the volunteer arm of the Sheriff’s Office. The two men recently completed a 120-hour training course to become certified as investigators for minor traffic crashes. The certification course was taught by Deputy Otis Gilyard, a member of the Sheriff’s Office’s Traffic Unit.
“These two gentlemen have worked very hard for this certificate,” Gilyard said. “There was a lot of time put forth to complete this training.”
With the certifications, the COP division now has five certified TCI who will be available to respond to the minor crashes.
“It is extremely important what these TCI do for our agency,” said Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre. “Last year, these investigators responded to 217 traffic crashes. That is 217 incidents that freed up our deputies to respond to other service calls.”
In addition to Manfre, Precinct Cmdr. Mark Carman congratulated the two new graduates along with Sonia Byrne, COP director, and COP Capt. Louis Plank, who also supervises the TCI unit.
