Leawood Police 2009 Annual Report Torch Run — Leawood Police Officers (front, from left) Shawn Farris, Ben Slenker, Anne Wagoner, Jarris Krapcha and Joe Peeples lead the 2009 Torch Run participants from Leawood City Hall after a lunch break. The torch run was just one of many activities that PD employees took part in last year to benefit the Special Olympics.

PD tops its fundraising goal

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aw enforcement groups around the country have teamed up with Special Olympians for the better part of three decades, and the Leawood Police Department did its part this past year by raising over $10,000. After raising over $7,500 in 2008, the Leawood PD set it sights high with a goal of $10,000 for 2009. Ultimately the department finished the year ranked among the top 15 departments in Kansas for money raised and helped the state top its goal of $350,000. Master Patrol Officer Shawn Farris organized many of the events for the department last year and has been doing so since 1996. “I saw a need for people with disabilities to lead a normal life and have the opportunities that other children do. Getting to go to events

and seeing the kids and adults we are helping makes a true difference,” Farris said. Beginning with the Polar Bear Plunge at Shawnee Mission Park in January, Leawood PD built a team of 15 employees to take the jump into the lake. In May 2009 Leawood PD staff participated in the Law Enforcement Torch Run which encompassed a 26 mile journey throughout Johnson County from Bass Pro Shop in Olathe to The Legends shopping center in Kansas City, Kansas. The final two fundraising events, the Midnight Fun Run on Tomahawk Creek Parkway and the Tip-a-Cop event at the Leawood On-theBorder, were new to Leawood PD this year. Together, those two events raised over $3,500. See Raising Funds, page 2

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Leawood Police 2009 Annual Report

From the Chief

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am often asked how safe is Leawood and is crime on the increase? The answer to the first question is very safe, compared to other cities across the country and also in the metro area, Leawood has a low crime rate but working together we could reduce it furJohn M. Meier ther. In 2009 we had an inChief of Police crease in thefts and burglaries over the previous year. Many of the burglaries occurred when a garage door was left open over night and property was taken. Contrary to many television programs, most criminals are not masterminds. Instead they are lazy and look for the easiest opportunity to commit a crime. Simple actions such as closing garage doors or locking car doors can have a significant impact in lowering the probability you will be a victim of a crime. Removing articles such as lap top computers, cell phones, and GPS devices from your car or at least concealing them also will lessen your chance of being a crime victim. This past year I was asked many times if the economy had an effect on crime. Honestly, I don’t know. In 2009 the number of shoplifting reports rose significantly. This may have been a result of the economy but I tend to believe that some businesses that in the past didn’t confront or prosecute shoplifters began having them arrested. We also saw a small increase in domestic violence, which may or may not have been the result of economic strain. Whatever the reason, we take seriously our responsibility to make Leawood as safe as possible. For all the wonderful amenities this community offers, people will not take advantage of them if they do not feel safe. The men and women of the Police Department take great pride in the fact that so many citizens do feel safe and secure in their community and working together we can continue to make Leawood a wonderful place to live or work.

Computer survey seeks citizen input

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n its first full year of collection responses, the Leawood Police Department’s internet-based survey has provided valuable feedback to the members of the department. Created through the web site SurveyMonkey, the survey was first posted in September of 2008 and last year received 155 responses from individuals, 76% of whom were Leawood residents. The anonymous responses generally supported what we have long believed, that we enjoy support from those that we serve. Those who were first contacted on a traffic stop rated the level of service “satisfied” or higher 60% of the time. Respondents whose first contact was not traffic related rated the service as “satisfied” or higher 88% of the time. When asked about their level of safety in their neighborhood, 57.7% rated it as “very safe” while another 27.8% felt “safe.” Also, 68.4% rated the department as being actively involved in the community. The top five safety issues identified by those who responded were: 1. Residential burglaries 2. Fraud/ID thefts 3. DUIs 4. Juvenile alcohol violations 5. Vehicle thefts Residents who would like to register their opinions may do so by accessing the survey through the police website: www.leawood.org/police/citizensurvey.aspx

Raising funds

(continued from page 1) In 2010 the department will continue to participate in the aforementioned events and hopes to have some new projects in the work. One new fundraiser is the Run with the Law Program, which teams up area youths with police officers in a race for charity. “Each year we’ve been able to increase our fundraising,” Farris said. “We are looking to get more citizens to come out and help in the fundraising,” Last December, a website dedicated to the department’s Special Olympics fundraising efforts was created. You can visit the site at www.firstgiving.com/leawoodpolice4. - Written by Officer Jarris Krapcha

How are we doing? www.leawood.org/police/citizensurvey.aspx

Leawood Police 2009 Annual Report

Leawood PD—May 2009

Hundreds apply to join department’s ranks

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ast year the Leawood Police Department received 839 applications from individuals seeking a position, only four of which opened during the year. The most popular position for job seekers was one of the two positions as a Police Officer that opened due to the retirements of Sgt. Tom Hogard and Police Officer Rick Clodfelter. A total of 383 people submitted applications during the year. From this group, 212 took the written examination with 95 (or 45%) of them receiving a passing score. After being ranked by their test score, 72 applicants moved on to oral interviews with a board of four officers. The applicants were ranked and the top candidates in each of the two oral interview phases moved forward to interview with Chief John Meier. Further testing, which included psychological, physical and backgrounds, narrowed the field down to the two people chosen: Blair

Gordon in January and Coby Shields in December. Both came to Leawood with experience as police officers in other states. In June, 343 people completed applications for the position as Administrative Assistant in the Investigations Division, taking the place of Allison Sweet who resigned to become a stay-at-home mom. This group was narrowed to 12 applicants who interviewed for the position. From this group, Stephanie Holm was chosen. The final position in October was for a Communications Officer to replace Sarah Reed, who resigned from the department for health reasons. We benefitted from a decision by an area agency to change their dispatch staffing, as several experienced dispatchers were among the 190 applicants. A dozen completed the written testing and Kim Hayes, who had formally been with the Olathe Police Department, joined our department.

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New to the Staff Police Officer

Blair Gordon

Administrative Assistant

Stephanie Holm

Communications Officer

Kim Hayes

Police Officer

Coby Shields

Leawood Police 2009 Annual Report

In 2009, Leawood officers handled:

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20,157 traffic stops 1,771 total arrests 1,031 911 calls 1,180 warrant arrests 768 medical calls 540 crashes (0 fatal) 445 thefts * including 49 id thefts 249 DUI arrests (2009) *Average BrAC 0.151% (nearly twice the limit) * 13 drug tests * 5 blood tests for alcohol 207 disturbances 115 civil matter calls 111 solicitor complaints 99 drug arrests 96 assault/battery calls 94 vandalism calls 80 fireworks complaints 73 burglary calls 16 minors with alcohol 13 auto thefts 9 criminal threats 9 weapons violations 5 rapes 2 robberies 0 homicides 0 arsons Officers completed... 3,954 reports 12,481 tickets 97 car seat checks

Educating Our Community

Working in the schools and within the community, Leawood’s three DARE/Crime Prevention officers presented: • 635 DARE lessons • 392 other school presentations • 20 internet safety classes • 15 station tours • 13 crime prevention sessions • 12 self defense classes • 6 residential security surveys • 4 cyber bullying sessions • 4 bike safety sessions • 4 community education talks

The top citations in ‘09 Speeding* (all versions) 5,658 *Average of 16 mph over the posted limit Expired or no license tag 1,611 No proof of insurance 1,405 Driving while suspended 552 Fail to wear Seat Belts 334 Switched license plates 284 DUI* 227 Driving with expired DL 156 Fail to stop at a stop sign 151 Fail to stop @ steady red 128 Inattentive driving 118 Refuse Prelim. Breath Test 102 Driving without a license 143 Traffic lane violations 98 Altered/dirty license plate 82 No DL in possession 81 * some DUIs filed in District Court

Answering your alarms

Leawood emergency personnel were sent to investigate 2,309 alarms in 2009. Of the 1,520 alarms that were not canceled, 951 were residential alarms, 388 business burglary/security alarms, 76 residential fire alarms and 90 business fire/medical alarms. Only 17 alarms were valid, a rate of 1.18 percent. To decrease the number of false alarms, 13 False Alarm Prevention programs were presented to 103 attendees.

ON THE AIR

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The department’s Communications Specialists in 2009: • answered 50,485 phone calls, including 9,611 9-1-1 calls (58.6% of which were from cell phone users) • dispatched 13,253 assignments • made 431,196 ALERT* inquiries, an average of 49 inquiries per hour and a 13% increase over 2008; • made 215,960 NCIC** inquiries, an average of 25 per hour, and nearly 43,000 more than last year; • made 186,525 inquiries of the Missouri license records; • made 162,789 inquiries of the Kansas license records; • made 4,130 ALERT entries (stolen auto, missing person or warrant information), a 20% increase over 2008. *ALERT = Automated Law Enforcement Response Team, a KC metro computerized information resource. **NCIC = National Crime Information Center, the FBI’s national computerized database.

How are we doing? www.leawood.org/police/citizensurvey.aspx

Leawood Police 2009 Annual Report

Slowing traffic The Traffic Management Unit, which includes the police motorcycle unit and traffic safety officers, worked diligently to educate the public and enforce traffic laws, particularly in complaint areas. During the last year, the Traffic Unit’s six members: • Issued 6,040 citations (48% of the department’s total) • Deployed the radar trailer or stealth speed detection device in 27 complaint locations • Helped lower the overall crash total by 15%. The police department as a whole handled 541 crash reports, 108 of which involved an injury or possible injury and 9 that involved alcohol. The top crash locations within the city were: 1. I-435 corridor 46 crashes 2. (tie) 133rd & State Line 13 crashes College & State Line 3. 135th & State Line 12 crashes 4. (tie) 135th & Roe Ave. 11 crashes 119th & Roe Ave.

During 2009, Leawood K9s Rocco and Duke completed: • 173 deployments (including 52 for other agencies) • 85 vehicle searches • 33 tracks or area searches • 21 public demonstrations • 6 building searches • 4 high risk car stops • 2 article or evidence searches • 2 school searches The two canines uncovered 387.4 grams of marijuana, 20.2 grams of cocaine (a 149% increase from 2008), 16 grams of methamphetamine, 106 pieces of drug paraphernalia (a 92% increase) and $2,003 in currency. The dogs, which are handled by Greg Turney and Jim Herman, assisted in the arrest of 19 felons and 36 others on misdemeanor charges.

Policing the Animals In 2009, Leawood Animal Control Officers handled: • 1,210 calls for assistance • 318 animal reports • 258 self-initiated calls The 3-member unit dealt with: • 372 loose animals • 177 impounds, of which 87 or 49% were reclaimed • 128 deceased animals picked up • 126 injured animals • 86 wildlife complaints • 68 dog complaints • 17 cat complaints • 12 dog bite reports • 9 complaints of neglect • tranquilized 8 animals • And investigated four non-dog bite reports

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Leawood Police 2009 Annual Report

Yoder, Damron win year's top awards In Recognition ergeant Kirt Yoder was chosen as the 2009 Leawood Police Officer

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of the Year and Dispatcher Greg Damron was chosen as the 2009 Civilian of the Year at the police department's annual awards dinner on Sunday, November 8th. Sgt. Yoder was promoted to sergeant in March of this year and, in addition to supervising one of the three patrol crews, was also given the responsibility of supervising the police officer training program. In announcing Sgt. Yoder's award, Chief John Meier read from one of the nominations that "it is not uncommon for newly appointed sergeants to 'ease' into the position, as many of the responsibilities can be daunting. Kirt, however, saw this new position as an opportunity to revamp the entire officer training program. In order to do this, Kirt invested many hours researching new programs, not only through the internet, but also by visiting multiple departments outside the metro area. AfKirt Yoder ter this research, he made a decision on which program he wanted to move toward and produced a proposal to do so (which was adopted). Although early into the program, it has already proven to be an improvement from the previous program." In addition his supervisory responsibilities, Sgt. Yoder found time to again train and compete in the Guns N Hoses boxing event to benefit the SAFE organization, which provides money to the families of first responders killed in the line of duty as well as to support a number of the department's other charity works. In nominating Greg Damron, for the Civilian of the Year Award, it was noted that "while others talk about the extra mile being their standard, Greg puts that motto into practice. He is an invaluable resource for anything involving the CAD (computer aided dispatch) system and his Access program is a masterful work of his own design which eases the retrieval of information from several separate databases." Besides his work within the city, Damron has worked with the cities of Olathe, Shawnee and most recently Prairie Village on customizing their CAD systems within the Intergraph Records Management system. He has also represented the Greg Damron communications unit in speaking to the Citizens Academy and served as a training officer for new communications officers. Several other employees were also recognized with awards:

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Officer Randy Rausch received the Top Gun Award for having the best overall score on this year's firearms proficiency event; Cpl. Shane Chambers and MPO Jim Herman received Letters of Commendation for their efforts in assisting the department in the selection of a new handgun; Officers Robert Mahon and Blair Gordon each received a Physical Fitness award for posting the highest percentages in the department's Cooper Institute-based fitness testing.

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Anniversaries

years: years: years: years: years:

Nancy Kelley Kelly Ratliff Tim Anderson Ken Whiteside Robert Mahon Laurie Saunders Kirt Yoder 5 years: Donita Crossland Joe Peeples Chris Rues

Promotions

Sgt. Kirt Yoder Corporal Shane Chambers

Master Patrol Officer

Tony Woollen

Career Development

PO4: Lee Graves PO3: Jordan Couturier PO2: Chris Hargis Jarris Krapcha Laurel Njoroge Dan Reedy CO2: Zach Buescher

Retirements Sergeant Tom Hogard

Police Officer 4 Rick Clodfelter