Police Report for January 2022

Traffic Contacts: 265
Parking Contacts: 123
Vehicle Inspections: 23
Vehicle Unlocks: 24
Crash Investigations: 20
Public Assists: 381
Assist Other Agency: 118
Crimes Against Persons Report: 11
Crimes Against Property Report: 12
Other Reports: 22
Arrests: 28
Warrants: 6
Alcohol/Narcotics Charges: 12
Crimes Against Persons Charges: 9
Crimes Against Property Charges: 0
Other Charges: 19
Animal Calls: 34
Total Calls for Service: 1703
* Total Calls for Service for the Year: 1703

Training:

• Members attended monthly Canine, Bomb Squad, Tactical Team, and Dive team training (64 hours)
• Two members attend quarterly Honor Guard Training (16 hours)
• Officer Jacobi is continuing his Field Officer Training and is partnered with a FTO for each shift.
• Three members attended an online training on TikTok and Snapchat forensic investigations (6 hours).

Public Relations:

• Officers stopped in at the Beat the Bitter Festivities.
• Continue to be requested to work the Liberty High School sporting events. This overtime is paid by the ICCSD.
• Officers worked the University of Iowa sporting events as requested.This overtime is paid for by the University.
• We sent out a public notice for a joint Community Police Academy with other agencies in the county. The theme is Behind the Badge and will meet for 4 weeks on Wednesday evenings at JECC. The program starts March 23rd and runs through April 13th. Applications and more information can be found at https://northlibertyiowa.org/2022/01/26/north-liberty-partners-with-local-law-enforcement-agencies-to-offer-a-look-behind-the-badge/. We also met with KCRG for an on camera interview on the program and why community members should sign up.
• We notified the public of a scam involving individuals calling people with our listed phone number. The caller demanded money for an outstanding jury duty warrant. NLPD will not ask for money or gift cards for any ticket, warrant or other fee involving the police department.
• We hosted a PD tour and leadership discussion on being a good citizen to the Lion Scouts with Cub Scout pack 120.
• Five (5) child safety seat checks were completed this month.
• An officer read a book to a kindergarten class at Garner Elementary and talked about being a good neighbor and friend to others. This interaction was at the request of a teacher.

Equipment:

• New Patrol Car 215 was outfitted, stripped and put in-service. The was a new purchase approved for the 2021-2022 budget cycle.

Enforcement/Crime:

• During two snow emergencies we issued 111 snow emergency tickets. Over 200 cars were warned prior to the snow events to move the vehicles off of the roads.
• Two false complaints were filed against officers late in 2021. The cases were reviewed by the county attorney office and charges of making a false statement to law enforcement charges were filed against the complainants. Charges were filed since the allegations did not have any merit after the County Attorney review and the department internal investigation. Both reviews consisted of reviewing statements, along with the audio and video recordings of the interactions. Both charges were simple misdemeanors.
• Several officers worked traffic enforcement and a joint wide project under the Governor Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) grant.
• We responded to 3 attempt to locate calls for people attempting to pass stolen checks which may be linked to the event below.
• We had three vehicles broken into and purses, bags, and checks stolen while they were at the gym. We encourage people to remove or hide any valuables in their car. This is typical behavior of the felony lane gang that comes through the state a few times a year. The individuals are from out of state, have stolen or removed license plates from rental cars, use the stolen identities to cash checks, and are difficult to track down. We continue to check our local hotel for these vehicles.

Department Admin:

• We have a North Liberty native and DMACC Criminal Justice unpaid college intern observing at the department for the next three months.
• Held the new recruit POST-test and physical agility. We have two non-certified candidates still on the list and we will be holding interviews next month. We hosted four (4) certified officers for interviews before the hiring panel. The top candidate was given a conditional job offer which she accepted. We will offer a start date once the MMPI, physical, drug screen, and FBI fingerprints are returned. We anticipate a start date in March.
• Several officers and their family members have tested positive with COVID this month.
• Chief and Lieutenant attended a regional meeting at the JECC hosted by the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. This was to demonstrate what they have to offer and any needs for officer training.
• Chief attended several meetings this month (in person and over Zoom) including the traffic study group, local chief’s monthly meetings with the county attorney, the EMA commission budget session, the Iowa Police Chief Association’s weekly legislative committee priorities, the North Liberty City council work session for the budget proposal, the bomb team assessment training day at their facility, E-911 board meeting, the JECC-UAC (User Advisory Committee) meeting, bi-weekly law enforcement meeting with our vendor,Tac 10, Guidelink Center advisory board, and the department head comprehensive planning meeting.
• Updated several policies including Animal Control, Drug-Free workplace, and the JECC- radio procedures.
• All supervisors completed annual evaluations for their staff members.
• We continued to work with our RMS vendor to get the contact card information correct and verifiable, so we can provide it to Dr. Barnum by Feb.
• Continue to work with our vendor on the NIBRS (National Incident Based Reporting System) reporting pieces migration, so that information shared is accurate and meeting the reporting requirements.
• Records continues to work on gathering the 2021 data for the Annual Report. This data is also verified through the NIBRS program held by the State of Iowa and the FBI crime reporting.

Respectfully Submitted by Chief Diane Venenga and Alisha Ruffcorn 2/2/2022