Police Report for October 2022

Traffic Contacts 188
Parking Contacts 21
Vehicle Inspections 23
Vehicle Unlocks 19
Crash Investigations 27
Public Assists 358
Assist other Agency 144
Crimes Against Persons Report 6
Crimes Against Property Report 13
Other Reports 27
Arrests 21
Warrants 4
Alcohol/Narcotics Charges 10
Crimes Against Persons Charges 5
Crimes Against Property Charges 5
Other Charges 13
Animal Calls 40
Total Calls for Service 1610
*Total Calls for Service for the year 18760

Training:

• Members attended monthly Canine, Bomb Squad, Tactical Team, and Dive team (64 hours)
• 1 member attended honor guard quarterly training (8 hours)
• Chief Venenga attended a weeklong FBI-LEEDA Leadership Command Course in Cedar Rapids. (40 hours)
• Two investigators attended two days of training for investigations of Child Investigations in Williamsburg, IA (32 hours).
• Two officers attended training in Waterloo for CTK interview and interrogations (48 hours)
• Lauryn and the Chief attended training at the U of I PD on our police vendor software for user tips and new features of the Tac 10 product (12 hours)

Public Relations:

• Officers worked several University and High School sporting events at their request. We are reimbursed for the overtime by the requesting entities.
• We completed the site evaluation at North Bend Elementary along with Johnson County EMA. The school can apply for $50,000 in state funding to cover site security improvements.
• In partnership with Kirkwood Workplace Learning Connections, we held our second High School Police Academy training day. We had an eager group of 11 students this year join us at the department for a day of learning. Both our telecommunications department and Kirkwood’s were invited to come and film some of the experience. This included classroom as well as hands on learning experiences about being a police officer. Evaluations of the program were collected at the end of the day and all of them were very positive.
• Lieutenant and Chief met with the new Security Officer at Centro to talked about building plans, improved safety, and operation techniques and to schedule tours for all staff to go through the plant and corporate offices.
• An officer attended a GTSB program at Liberty HS for the Buckle UP student program.  This was for an hour and attended by all the classes except seniors.
• We collected 53 pounds of drugs during the National Take Back event. The narcotics were dropped off at the North Liberty Police Department and disposed of through the DEA.  We participate in this national program twice a year.
• The department was invited to two neighborhood events.
• Community Outreach Officer Davis was invited to attend several Halloween events.

Equipment:

• We continue to experience failures with our HVAC system and had to have additional mechanical call out to help with the heating and cooling of the building. This has now been turned back over to the Architect/mechanical engineer to see if they can help trouble shoot the problems, we are having with the software running the system or the provider saying the system is not compatible to zone temperatures.
• We are having officers run through scenarios on the VR training simulator with an instructor. We are learning more of the capabilities of the system.

Enforcement/Crime:

• We were called to a local bank where a man from Cedar Rapids reported he was homeless and picked up by two men. The two men requested he cash bad checks with his identity, and he would get $100 or $200 for the transactions. Three banks in Cedar Rapids cashed the checks. At an NL branch he passed a note to the teller asking for help and that he was being forced to cash the bad checks. We assisted the man in North Liberty to get away from the individuals and back to the area he was living. The two men that transported the individual were not located. The information was forwarded to CRPD so they can follow up with the bad checks cashed in their jurisdiction.
• We signed up again with the Iowa Alcoholic Beverage Division to participate in a sting operation to for compliance checks with the sale of tobacco, alternative nicotine, and vapor product to minors. We have a few months to perform the sting operation at local businesses which takes place annually. The project involves a person under the age of 21 going in to businesses and attempting to purchase these products. Any employee or business in violation will receive a citation.
• Officers were called to a suspicious running vehicle at Casey’s with two occupants sleeping inside for several hours. Upon running the plate, the vehicle came back as stolen. When the officers awoke the suspects, the driver attempted to take off, crashed into a parked car and was taken into custody. The driver had numerous warrants and was charged with theft, driving while barred, interference and possession of controlled substances.  The passenger was also charged with possession of controlled substances.
• A stolen trailer was located dumped off near the interstate. The trailer was reported stolen out of Cedar Rapids and we were able to return to the owner.

Department Admin:

• We held interviews for uncertified officers before a panel. We interviewed 7 applicants and are moving forward with 3 at this time. We are still accepting applications for certified officers and non-certified officers.
• We held interviews before multiple different panels of stakeholders for changes that will take place in January for a general Investigator Drug Task Force Member, Cyber Crimes investigator, General Investigator, Sergeant Position, and the Administrative Lieutenant Position. Overall, we had 11 candidates go through the interview process for these positions. Announcements will be made next month.
• Chief attended several meetings for the local police chief’s meeting, Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council meeting, ILEA Rules Committee meeting, Guidelink Center, Johnson County UAC law advisory subcommittee meeting,
• The Mental Health Liaison started her department orientation on the 17^th. She will be with each agency for one week before starting up with the follow-up process.