Police Department Report, September 2013

Traffic Contacts – 182
Crash investigations -37
Case Reports – 48
Public Assist – 255
Supplemental reports – 200
Fire Assists – 31
Parking contacts –  20
Law Enforcement Assist –  25
Arrest  -23
Business Checks – 13
Charges  -9
Car unlocks  –  20
OWI’s filed- 3
Animal Calls –  28    time spent 7 hours
.02 alcohol violations  – 0
Warrants served – 7
Vehicle inspections – 34
Total Calls for service for month by daily logs =  1236

Highlights

Training
One officer is attending the National DRE (Drug Recognition Expert) training program.     The cost of the training and expenses are paid for by the State.  These sessions are weeks long and when he returns he will be an expert in recognizing people that are under the influence of drugs and narcotics while driving.   Additional training will be included out of state next month.
Four officers attended free training on the first responder’s response to lost or missing children present by NMCEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children).    This training conference was in Marshalltown, Iowa on September 12^th.
An NL Officer was selected to start the process to become certified in open water and recue diver.  Once he has the initial certifications he will become a member of the Johnson County Dive Team.  Advanced training and equipment will be sponsored by the dive team through the Johnson County EMA.   North Liberty will be responsible for the initial certification and the officer’s time.
The Law Enforcement Leadership Series (LELS) conference was held in Dubuque, Iowa sponsored by the Iowa Chief of Police Association.   Chief Venenga attended the two day conference.   Topics included promotional advancement, Neighborhood Enforcement Program, School Resource officer and major Incident Command.
An officer attended free training for the use of the Pictomentry camera to video interior images of buildings.       The equipment is owned by Johnson County and we will have a local person who can borrow the equipment and get a 360 degree video of the interior of larger buildings prior to a public safety event.    This equipment can also be utilized if there is a large crime scene that needs mapping.     It is a great resource to borrow and use our own officer for the mapping.   This can be utilized for public and private buildings as well.
Public Relations
An officer provided tours at the Safety Village for children and educated the public about what Safety Village offers.
An officer attended the grand opening of the library and read during story time.
North Liberty Officers went to Rockwell City to assist that agency, community and the family in preparations for the funeral of Officer Jamie Buenting who was killed in the line of duty.  North Liberty Officers also attended the funeral with other local law enforcement officers from the area.
Officers also participated in the city sponsored kickball tournament for another city employee.
Equipment
We are looking at purchase of department owned guns for all officers.   There is a buy back promotion for older department owned weapons.
The department received a corporate grant from Target Co for the purchase of a FLIR which is an infrared red thermal imaging system.   This system can be used to detect a heat source and can be used by the police for looking for a missing person and property  or tracking and apprehending fleeing subjects.
Officers are creating designs of a police shoulder patch that we will look at changing in month.
Enforcement
Vehicle burglaries were reported in the area of Cherry Street to HWY 965 to Sugar Creek Lane and the mobile home courts.    The vehicles entered were unlocked and electronic devices and money was reported stolen.    This has occurred during the overnight hours in the middle of the month.   The investigation is ongoing into these thefts as well as those from the previous month.
Alcohol compliance checks were completed at area retail liquor license holders.  All the businesses passed the inspection and did not sell to the underage person.   The businesses were notified of successful completion of the compliance check.
Department Admin
North Liberty Officers, the administrative assistant and human resource director assisted in the officer physical and post testing at the Rec center.      The candidates that passed will move on to the next phase which is the interview process the first week in October.
The police chief selection process was attended by department members for the reception and two officers assisted with the interview committee of all the candidates.
Nathan Hayes tendered his resignation on September 20^th, 3013.
Diane Venenga was selected as the Chief of Police with a starting date of September 25^th.