Joe Powers remembers a time when Guyton was even quieter than it is now.

“When I grew up in the ’40s, Guyton was a safe place,” he said. “At the four-way stop sign, you could lay down and take a nap.”

Animals even had the right-of-way, Powers said. But years later, when the former schoolteacher used to give students rides home, he noticed a change in the community.

“It was a dangerous place,” he said. “There were places people would approach you to sell you illegal drugs.”

But Guyton is a safe place again, Powers said, thanks to the work of Guyton Police Chief Randy Alexander and his officers.

“Chief Alexander put a stop to the illegal drugs,” Powers said. “And now Guyton is a safe place to walk around, even at night.”

Powers said some of his students began to sell drugs, and people in Guyton would walk around with guns.

“It was a dangerous place,” he said.

The streets also were made dangerous by vehicles that raced through town without stopping.

“Almost every year, people got killed by speeding trucks, some going 90 mph,” Powers said.

He thanked the chief, his officers, Mayor Michael Garvin and Alderman Brenda Lovett, one of his former principals, for their work in creating and sustaining the Guyton Police Department.

“So many people I know are so happy that Guyton has a such a wonderful police force to protect them,” Powers said. “It is such a privilege to tell people I am from Guyton.”

Alexander said the police department’s success was a result of a team effort.

“It’s always the citizens who make a police department,” he said.