Online Chat withe Emporia Police Chief Gary Smith
August 31, 2011
Online Chat withe Emporia Police Chief Gary Smith
Moderator: It's time to start our online chat with Chief Smith. It looks like we have a bunch of questions so we will get started and get to as many as we can in the 30 minutes we have so let's get to the first question.
Cherie: Is there a noise ordinance in Emporia? If so then why does the police dept not enforce it? Numerous times I have seen police sitting next to a car at an intersection and the music is extremely loud and they do not do anything.
Chief Gary Smith: There is a noise ordinance. Generally if the noise is “excessively loud” and at a 50 foot perimeter the officers may use the incident as a reason to contact the person. As to why an officer who is traveling in a vehicle didn’t stop the vehicle, is subjective. If there wasn’t a complaining party, or they were going to another call would be several possibilities why they didn’t stop the vehicle.
jamesbordonaro: What units will feel the most impact of losing 4 positions in the 2012 budget?
Chief Gary Smith: By units I would imagine you mean a division or assigned group of officers. The impact most likely would be seen in the times taken to complete reports and some non-emergency calls. Since most patrol officers investigate the majority of the calls they are assigned, the investigation time for our four detectives may also be impacted. There are a lot of variables that make it difficult to measure since each day brings different calls and different types of citizen needs.
reddog: "Police departments usually are amoung the last agencies to be cut when the economy turns bad, because elected officials see public safety as a top priority and try to find other places to cut," said Miami Police Chief John Timoney. Mr. Smith, do you agree that most police departments are currently being asked to make cuts is a very good indication of how bad the economy is affecting local tax bases?
Chief Gary Smith: Chief John Timoney left the Miami Police Department to go back into the private sector as a consultant after a new mayor was elected I believe back in 2009. The current chief, Miguel A. Exposito, is facing quite a bit of controversy with the current mayor over staffing and resource allocations for the police department there. I’m not sure when Chief Timoney made the comment and whether it is relevant to the current economic climate as he has been a law enforcement administrator in several large urban cities for the past 20 years. Essentially, staffing of public safety services is a policy decision made by elected officials. It would be presumptuous for me to try to read what or what not is involved in their decision-making process. If one checks on-line employment listings for law enforcement officials from the rank of officer to police chief, there are plenty of organizations that are expanding and adding to personnel. I think that the personality of the community, the tolerance level for criminal activity, crime issues, media perception of public safety and concerns of the public drive the public policy more than a specific economic climate; at least that has been my experience in three states over the past 30 years in law enforcement. Studies have shown that the less time officers have to ask questions and be able to do proactive policing and simply attend to responding to crimes after the fact, the more likely that crime will increase. The ability to interact with residents prior to crimes and to build positive relationships is key to the success of reducing crime the past twenty years.
EmporiaMama: Other than not filling vacant positions what steps have you taken to cut costs in your department? Limited travel expenses, cutting misc. expenses, etc.
Chief Gary Smith: In 2008, we developed a review process that looks each quarter at each aspect of our organization, both staffing and the manner in which we deliver services. We evaluate the types of calls, the feedback received from surveys and direct contact with consumers to ascertain what areas are a priority and concern and what are less. We’ve invested in technology such as traffic counters and analyzing programs to determine the real need for enforcement rather than a perception of need by a reporting party. We focus more on proactive activities to reduce and eliminate crime and quality of life issues which in turn allows for more time to invest in investigating and resolving issues. We’ve added in-car computer capabilities that let the officers access any information in their car that they used to have to return to the office to obtain. We look at possible efficiencies in the unfunded mandates required of the state and federal government for reporting purposes which are significant. We also evaluate regularly if there are activities that we will stop doing. The budget cuts in early 2000 and 2006 eliminated DARE officers, school resource officers and juvenile crime specialists. Some of those activities have been folded into regular duties of patrol officers and investigators, others have not. We’ve eliminated duplication in training between our agency and others and share joint training opportunities. We have an agreement with the sheriff to share investigator resources for drug and gang investigations. We share equipment with each other for specialized investigations so neither agency has to invest in the same equipment to avoid duplication. We’ve worked with prosecutors to streamline as much as possible reporting deadlines and converted to digital video, photographs and audio to provide quicker turnaround for officer investigations, allowing them to spend less time in the office on paperwork and more time in the field. Most of our training is conducted in-house, shared with other agencies, or we take advantage of training provided by the training academy and often bring in guest instructors and charge other outside agencies to help offset the cost of the instructors and materials. The state requires each officer to complete at least 40 hours of training and specifies which area the training must be. Combined with training costs, employee salary, time to cover on-duty time and materials cost, training becomes costly quickly. Compound that with the number of retirements of tenured staff and that makes training new officers all the more challenging. The state mandates new officer training at the state training facility for 14 weeks. The cost of training is provided by the state but we must pay for the time spent there, including overtime, materials and transportation. During that time, we must also pay to cover the vacancies created by new officers in training. Additionally, there is another 12 weeks of training once the officer returns from the academy with a training officer before that officer is allowed to work alone. Similar training exists for dispatchers and other members of the department.
EmporiaMama: Are you concerned that the police department is losing so many experienced officers? What is your plan to ensure that these new young officers will be adequately trained?
Chief Gary Smith: You may see fewer bike officers or traffic officers at some times when it is necessary to cover the heavier periods of times for calls for service. It is our commitment to meet the needs by looking at alternative ways to address concerns and call loads. We started this process three years ago by realigning shifts for patrol and investigators, eliminating two lieutenant positions, a deputy chief positions and putting more officers and field supervisors on the street and having investigators rotate so that they are working seven days a week and covering at least 18hours a day of regular time. During heavy periods of demand for officers, we prioritize the calls based on safety issues versus nuisance complaints. It’s hard to predict with any certainty other than looking at past years’ calls for service what may or may not occur any given evening. One domestic violence call can tie up a minimum of two officers for two or three hours. The cutbacks in mental health services by the state have had a ripple effect in the number of people in crisis that are now being dealt with at the hospital and in other venues. A transport of a person in protective custody to a mental health facility ( usually Kansas City or Osawatomie). Such a call will tie up 2 officers for a minimum of about 4 to 6 hours while they stand by for mental health personnel to arrive, evaluate them and then if necessary to transport the person to a facility. For example, we transported at least one person to Kansas City or Osawatomie once every twenty four hours every day in July. These two types of calls are examples of how a ten minute call for assistance can turn into a significant amount of time committed off the street. We continue to rely on assistance from the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and ESU Police when things get busy. Unfortunately, their resources are also limited and if they are busy, they may not be available for help us out. Our shift coverage can range from one supervisor with five officers to one supervisor with three officers depending on scheduling. By overlapping some staff members we bring in more officers during the busier times of the day rather than simply scheduling the same number of officers per shift. We’ve been successful the past three years in meeting coverage goals in this manner.
jshapiro: With at least four less officers, what areas are you planning going to cut back on? Will the public notice these cutbacks?
Chief Gary Smith: If we added officers overtime would increase because of training and court testimony. Reducing staffing creates additional overtime to cover shifts and to complete reports if crime levels stay the same or increase. The real challenge at any time in a law enforcement organization is to identify overtime issues and get ahead of them to minimize the impact on the budget.
jshapiro: What do you make of the argument that Emporia has less people so they should have less officers?
Chief Gary Smith: The census says there are fewer people. We know they didn’t all leave at once so was there a ten year exodus? Was it gradual? Or was it contained in a several year window? We also know that not everyone is counted in the census. The census does not take into consideration the number of people who are in town at any given time of the day or night conducting business, visiting or here to create mischief. Prior to 2008, the records collection of data in our computer system required of the state often duplicated the actual numbers of crimes, calls for services and arrests. That was corrected in 2008. In looking at previous years by the percentage of over-count, it would appear that our call load has been pretty consistent. The big difference has been the reduction of crimes per 1000 population and the improvement of the solvability of crimes over the past three years. The amount of officer self-initiated calls is higher. The officers spend more time in the field now. Our current compliment of officers and investigators are very motivated, skilled and active. They do an excellent job of intervening in crimes in progress. The increased willingness of residents to call in information and to be our “eyes and ears” had paid off well. Our staff members have performed at a very high level of competency from investigating homicides, working with the county attorney for successful convictions on all recent homicides to locating and indentifying car prowlers the same night. Our excellent working relationship with the county attorney, probation, both the sheriff’s office and ESU Police provide good opportunities to prevent crimes and to intervene when they occur.
jshapiro: 8. Do you think police overtime will increase significantly?
Chief Gary Smith: If we added officers overtime would increase because of training and court testimony. Reducing staffing creates additional overtime to cover shifts and to complete reports if crime levels stay the same or increase. The real challenge at any time in a law enforcement organization is to identify overtime issues and get ahead of them to minimize the impact on the budget.
countrydog: why do we have so many heavy badge officers?
Chief Gary Smith: You didn’t define what you meant by “heavy badge officers.” If you mean officers are assertive and actively out and about enforcing laws and asking questions then that is a good thing. If you are using the term in a derogatory manner then we have a means for individuals to file a complaint with our department and we will fully investigate it. I’ve worked in several departments and consulted in others and I will tell you that I’ve not found any department with more dedicated, honest and professional individuals as I have found at the Emporia Police Department. I consider it a privilege to work with each of our staff members. They make my job easy and a great experience.
Yosemite_Sam: I'm interested to hear about the license plate reader(s). How many units does the department have? How successful has their deployment been? Were the devices obtained through a traffic grant? Thank you....
Chief Gary Smith: We received money through a federal Justice Department Grant in 2009 that purchased five in-car video camera systems and one license plate reading system. The feedback from the officers about both the cameras and the license plate reader have been positive. The plate reader can read about 500 license plates an hour. Each 24-hour period, the data from the national crime information center is downloaded into the computer system with listings for stolen plates, vehicles, watches for individuals and other requests for locate based on the license plate number. The system works very quickly and provides an audible alert to the officer when there is a “hit” on a plate it reads and provides the information why the plate is entered into the computer system. We have recovered several stolen vehicles, located individuals who were driving under a suspended license, missing persons and individuals wanted in other crimes in other communities and states. It even gives us a heads up on vehicles that show an unpaid balance on parking tickets
Diane: I would like to know what the policy is for pit bull dogs if they keep getting out of their yard. These dogs also were involved in the killing of another dog. I don't believe the dog that was killed wandered into the yard. Only thing that happened was that the dogs were quaratined for 10 days and then returned home.
Chief Gary Smith: Currently we have one animal control officer to cover the city. When that person is not on duty, we try to cover with police officers when they are not involved in other calls. Our ordinance allows us to take the animal, whether pit bull or not, if it is deemed dangerous and request the city prosecutor to have the municipal court judge make a ruling that the animal is dangerous so it may be put down. The owner is entitled to due process. If they convince the prosecutor or judge the animal is not dangerous, it is returned to the owner.
hometownkid: Chief- What happens to a k-9 animal, if a k-9 officer leaves the department? Does the animal stay with the department, or does it go with the handler since they are the person trained to work with that specific animal??
Chief Gary Smith: The dog can be retrained to work with a new handler. The dog is trained in a manner which allows this. If the dog reaches retirement, the handler is given the opportunity to adopt the dog, otherwise it is sent to any number of dog sanctuaries to live out his/her retirement years.
rabblerouser: Why are there so many permanent residence in Emporia running their vehicles with out of state tags? This may save them money, but costs us alot of revenue and is illegal.
Chief Gary Smith: Kansas statutes requires people who become residents of the state to change their plates. It gets foggy when people have multiple residences or property in various states. There is statutory language that defines what a place of primary residence is. Usually our officers figure out someone is trying to circumvent the process after several contacts or when we receive a complaint. We also can notify the state if we feel someone is avoiding paying property tax on the vehicle and allow them to handle the matter administratively.
jshapiro: When officers retire next year, will the police department recruit experienced officers or do you have to start from scratch with new officers?
Chief Gary Smith: It depends on who applies. We do offer some incentive to experienced officers who would like to move to our department. There is still about a 20 week learning curve even if they are already certified by the state. Generally most experienced officers are reluctant to relocate because of losing their sick leave and vacation time. We are also careful to make sure we don't inherit some other city's problem officer. A new employee must attend the state police academy for 14 weeks and then is trained in-house for about another 16 weeks before he/she is ready to begin solo police work. Learning a new community layout and procedures is challenging. We've been fortunate to have recently recruited a number of officers who were already certified and/or were from Emporia so some of the orientation was shorter.
moderator: I read in the City of Hays budget some info on their new 12 Hour long 4 shift alignment for their police department. They report a more efficient and productive department that enjoys the new schedule. Have we ever considered a new scheduling program for our department?
Chief Gary Smith: We have. To meet wage and hour laws, we would have to pay some overtime to meet the shift coverage requirements. There are other studies that indicate that it is counterproductive to have officers work longer than 10 hours due to fatigue. My experience in other places I've worked is that 12 hours schedules tend to have a higher rate if sick time used as well as increased overtime usage because of court time. Because the officers have longer periods of consecutive days off, report completion is often delayed or overtime is necessary to get paperwork done. In the 30 years I've been in law enforcement, I've worked 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 hours shifts. Each have their pluses and minuses.
Moderator: Well, it looks like that is all the time we have for our online chat today. On behalf of the Emporia Gazette and it's readers I would like to thank Chief Smith for taking time out of his schedule to come in and answer our questions.