Police report August 2017

Traffic Contacts: 370
Parking Contacts: 28
Vehicle Inspections: 30
Vehicle Unlocks: 35
Crash Investigations: 22
Public Assists: 124
Assist Other Agency: 92
Crimes Against Persons Report: 7
Crimes Against Property Report: 34
Other Reports: 33
Arrests: 26
Warrants: 2
Alcohol/Narcotics Charges: 19
Crimes Against Persons Charges: 3
Crimes Against Property Charges: 1
Other Charges: 9
Animal Calls: 32
Total Calls for Service: 1897
*Total Calls for Service for the year 13285

Training:

• One officer attended a week long driver instructor certification at ILEA. This will be the second instructor for the department and he will assist with our yearly driver training (40 hours)
• Officer Spence Madole is going through the Field Training Process.
• Officer Eric Kapfer has completed 10 weeks of the Cedar Rapids Regional Academy and is doing well.
• All officers completed the monthly on line training on crisis management and intervention techniques 1 hour (total-22 hours).
• Department Training held on Medical Combat Training and Domestic Abuse Risk Assessments  (2 hours each officer =40 hours total)
• Officers attended Dive training and Bomb Squad Training this month (22 hours)

Public Relations:

• National Night out was August 4^th. Four officers worked that evening and were visible on foot in the neighborhoods playing basketball, talking with parents, and providing tours of the patrol car.
• Officer Clubb attended and presented services at the North Liberty Library’s Baby Fair. Officer Clubb conducts the child safety seat inspections so this was a perfect venue to get his services out to the new parents or expecting parents.
• Officer Clubb completed 4 Child Safety Seat inspections.
• An officer attended the Pull for Honor at the Cedar Rapids Airport. This was an opportunity to pull a 747 plane to raise funds for veterans to go on the Honor Flight to see the memorial in Washington DC.
• Two officers volunteered their time to attend the funeral of the West Des Moines Officer Shawn Miller, who was killed in a motor vehicle collision.
• NLPD sponsored a Town Hall Meeting to talk about our agency, citizen’s rights, police interactions, and our training. This was moderated by Sabrena Shields a local resident and social worker who works with the schools. This event had a great turn out and something we will do in the future.   (left picture above)
• Three employees were selected to start an NLPD Twitter account under the City’s policies. This will be for positive PR and information sharing. Officer Chuck Tygart, Officer Travis Clubb and Administrative Assistant Alisha Ruffcorn will start tweeting soon.
• Officer Tygart assisted at Servolution at Penn Elementary on August 19^th fro 3-6pm. This is a program to provide services for the underserviced population in North Liberty organized by Life Church.  School supplies, shoes, and haircuts were provided to children and the available community resources for families were all represented.
• Officers taught ALICE drills at City offices, specific to each area of responsibility.

• Officers attended Porchfest in Arlington Ridge.  (right picture above)
• The department published a community survey which can be found at https://eSurv.org?u=North_Liberty_PD_Short_Survey This will be available until the end of September and results will be compiled and shared. The purpose of this survey is to give us feedback on what we can do to improve as a department.
• Stuffed “Tommy Moose” animals were donated to the police department to provide to children during critical incidents. This was provided by the Iowa City Moose Lodge Members and we thanked them for their thoughtful donation.

Equipment:

• Taser cartridges were ordered for training next month. For the certification process, each officer has to deploy two training cartridges each year.
• Equipment was installed in the new Drug Task Force vehicle.
• Equipment is being ordered and will be installed in the new supervisor’s vehicle. This includes a new computer.

Enforcement:

• Officers increased patrols for pick up and drop off during the start of school. Focusing on vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Officers directed traffic, stopped speeding vehicles, and set up the speed trailer and patrol cars in highly visible areas.  Staff, and concerned citizens provided recommendations for the traffic safety committee.  One sergeant created an operation plan for the first two weeks of patrol and assignments.
• Several vehicle burglaries occurred overnight in areas of Prospect Court, Prairie Ridge, Cambria Dr and Patton Lane. All of the vehicles were unlocked. Purses, change, and electronics were taken out of the vehicles.  Some of the items were found in the yards of neighbors. We remind the community to lock all doors, remove any valuables and to report any suspicious activity in their neighborhood.

Department Admin:

• Officers worked the Back Porch County Concert at Kinnick. Officer will also be working the football games again this fall.  This is posted and officers not already scheduled to work have the opportunity to volunteer to work the games.
• The Council was provided an update on Community Policing efforts.
• Lieutenant interviews were conducted with both a law enforcement panel and department head panel.
• The Labor Management Committee (LMC) met to discuss overtime notification, future K-9 position planning, and the upcoming Sergeant interview process. This was held with union members and supervisors.
• Officers designed and created a T-Shirts to sell to the public as a fund raiser for the K-9 program. These shirts will be available at the Colony County Pumpkin Patch this fall.  The T-shirts were printed by Rage Graphix.
• The Chief looked at Target Solutions software which is a training record management system as well as provided over 250 online courses. This can be specifically for the police department or all city departments.
• The chief also inquired about Lexipol. This is a separate software system to assist with policy development and review, record management, reviews recent Supreme and Iowa Supreme court updates, and recommended best practices for departments. It also has a training and dissemination component to the program.   The software will be for future planning for the department to utilize best practices from other agencies.