Hiring continues in order to meet community's needs

The 24 new KCPD recruits filled out new-hire paperwork this
morning, June 6.

This morning, I welcomed the 24 members of the 157th Entrant Officer Class to the Kansas City Missouri Police Department. And just a few weeks ago, I swore in the 12 members of the 156th Entrant Officer Class when they graduated from the Kansas City Regional Police Academy. Those dozen officers are now out on the streets for their break-in period with field training officers.

When I announced that we would not fill many vacancies, some were under the mistaken impression that we wouldn’t hire any more police officers. This is not the case. We will continue to hire officers as the budget allows. We always are accepting applications, and you can learn more about the law enforcement hiring process on our web page. The newest recruits will undergo nearly eight months of training in our Academy, on topics from constitutional law to defensive tactics. (Here is more information about our curriculum).

We also are continuing to hire for non-sworn positions. We’re looking for detention facility officers and building operations technicians right now.

Eliminating positions – some of which have been vacant for years – does not mean our hiring processes have ground to a halt. It means we are doing the most we can with the budget we have. We will continue to bring in officers and non-sworn staff to fill spots vacated by attrition.

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Females comprise nearly 1/3 of graduating Academy class.

The 149^th Entrant Officer Class will graduate from the Kansas City Regional Police Academy on Thursday night, and I’m proud of the diversity it represents. Thirty-one men and women will take the oath that night to uphold the law in Kansas City.

We often talk about the necessity of a police department that reflects the community, and usually those conversations are in the context of race. That is indeed very important, but about half the community we serve is female, and our department – as well as most other law enforcement agencies – has a long way to go before we reflect that demographic.

This graduating class has the highest percentage of females that anyone on the department can recall. Nearly a third – 10 out of the 31 – are women. Women bring unique strengths and perspectives that can be lacking in the male-dominated field of law enforcement, and I’m happy to see them filling our ranks.

Last year marked the first time our department ever has had two female deputy chiefs at the same time, and I am confident that a woman will be chief of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department in the not-so-distant future.

We’re not going to take a rest now and celebrate. Obviously, more work needs to be done. Fortunately, this trend is continuing. The 150^th Entrant Officer Class is in training now. Out of the 45 KCPD entrant officers, 12 are female. Our recruiters will continue to encourage females to apply, as well as a wide array of people from different races, socioeconomic backgrounds and cultural experiences.

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Swearing in the newest KCPD officers

I was honored yesterday to swear in Kansas City's newest police officers. This group will graduate from the Police Academy in a formal ceremony tonight. They'll hit the streets for their first day of work on Sunday.

Welcome to KCPD, Academy graduates

The 26 men and women of Entrant Officer Class 146 will graduate from the Police Academy tonight. They will hit the streets with their field training officers on Sunday. I administered the oath of office to them yesterday, on 12/12/12. In fact, I ended the oath by declaring them commissioned officers at exactly 12:12:12 (that was a stroke of luck).

Dozens of officers have retired this year, so this class is much needed. Our Academy does an excellent job preparing them for what they will face on the streets of Kansas City. You can see the sample curriculum. They receive extensive training in the law, patrol tactics, criminal investigation, firearms, defensive tactics, driving and more. These 26 men and women have proven themselves by successfully completing all the required training, and I look forward to having them represent KCPD.

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Members of Entrant Officer Class 145 are on the streets

As many area students head back to class, one group has just graduated: the 145th Entrant Officer Class of the Kansas City Regional Police Academy. This group of 17 graduated Thursday, August 9, and all of them are now on the streets. They will be riding with a field training officer and learning the ropes until Oct. 21, at which time their performance will be reviewed. If they pass, they will be allowed to answer calls for service on their own. They will be reviewed once again six months from now to determine whether they passed their probationary period and achieve the full rank of officer.

It was a proud moment to swear in this class, my first as chief. Below is the oath of office I administered to the new officers and by which they have sworn to abide:

I do solemnly swear

That I will support the Constitution, the laws of the United States and the State of Missouri,

That I will observe the provisions of the charter and the ordinances of Kansas City,

And that I will faithfully discharge all my duties as a member of the Kansas City, Missouri Police Force

So help me God.

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New recruits reflect community

Thirty-four men and women are beginning the process today to become Kansas City Missouri Police officers. Today, they are filling out paperwork, getting their equipment issued and undergoing orientation. Tomorrow will be their first day at the Police Academy as part of our nearly eight-month training program.

This group represents the community they will serve well. A third of them are minorities (nine are black and two are Hispanic), and 20 percent of them are women. I thank our Human Resources Unit for recruiting and processing such qualified and diverse candidates.

I look forward to watching these men and women become Kansas City Police Officers.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.

Police driving instructors to mentor students in car-building program

Our December Informant newsletter has an interesting story about a collaboration between a group that seeks to teach inner-city kids skills by building electrical vehicles and the KCPD. Check out the story below and the video at the end:

What started as providing a set for a documentary film turned into a mentoring opportunity for the Kansas City Police Academy driving instructors.

This fall, owners and mentors from MINDDRIVE and a film crew from L.A., working for Translogic-AOL, did a film shoot at KCPD’s own Police Academy driving course, covering a story on MINDDRIVE’s car and program.

According to their web site, MINDDRIVE is a non-profit, after-school program for at-risk high school students that uses experiential learning methods administered by instructors and mentors. 

MINDDRIVE inspires students to learn, expand their vision of the future and have a positive influence on urban workforce development. They achieve this by teaching the students how to build a car. By doing this, the students have progressed into welders, battery experts and even working with MINDDRIVE’s web site and social media.

After learning of MINDDRIVE and all the good it does for the urban core of Kansas City, the instructors from the Academy decided this would be a great opportunity to help.

“We have a community responsibility over and above fighting crime,” Director Rick Brisbin of the Special Projects Section said. “We want to be more of a role model for these kids.”

In addition to letting them test drive the car they built on KCPD’s driving course, the Academy driving instructors plan to put together a course for these students to teach them how to drive and prepare them to take their drivers’ license tests.

Those who are old enough to drive will definitely need their license. They are planning a coast-to-coast trip in March 2012. Project Reynard, MINDDRIVE’s second car, will be driven non-stop from San Diego, Calif., to Jacksonville, FL using quick-charge technology. They plan to split the trip into two segments and fly half of the students to San Diego who will travel to San Antonio, Texas. Then, they will fly home, and the other half will fly in and continue their trip to Jacksonville, Fla.

They hope to find a sponsor to send all of the students to Washington DC to have their car displayed at the Capital building at the end of their successful demonstration run.

“I feel that kids under the right tutelage can get more engaged,” added Brisbin. “This is one of the more inspiring things you will ever get to be a part of.”

MINDDRIVE Mentor and Marketing Strategist, Linda Buchner commented that, “Having a driver's license will give our students a lot more freedom as well as the potential for getting jobs. Many are old enough but haven't had the motivation to go ahead and get the license.”

And KCPD driving instructors will get to have a hand in pushing them toward that self-reliance.


To learn more about MINDDRIVE, visit their web site at http://minddrive.org.


 

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Police offer free women's personal safety seminar on Saturday

PRESS RELEASE:

For the first time, police are offering their four-hour Women’s Personal Safety Seminar for free this Saturday.

The course will be from 8 a.m. to noon Dec. 3 at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy, 6885 N.E. Pleasant Valley Road. Enrollment is open to females age 16 and older, but those younger than 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Participation is limited to 50 women.

The four-hour class focuses on awareness, prevention, streetwise caution and self defense. Kansas City Police Academy instructors and other KCPD officers teach the class, which features hands-on activities, defensive tactics training and question-and-answer sessions.

The course will cover many topics, including: self defense techniques; identity theft prevention; and safety tips for the home, car, purses, shopping, exercising and more. Women from throughout the Kansas City metro area are invited to participate.

While the course is free, women are asked to register in advance by calling 816-413-3500 or e-mailing angela.mccune@kcpd.org.  

Meet your new Kansas City Police officers

Last night, I had the honor of swearing in 17 new Kansas City Missouri Police officers at their Police Academy graduation. This is a special group. Once they finish their break-in period with a field training officer in August, they'll hit the streets as part of our new foot patrol program in crime-ridden neighborhoods. Congratulations to these newly-minted KCPD officers.

Pop Warner team presents their trophy to Police Academy

Last Thursday, Nov. 18, the Pop Warner football team, the North Kansas City Wildcats, presented us with their Truman Bowl trophy. This was the "Super Bowl" for their league, and this group of sixth- and seventh-graders won it. So why did they give us their trophy? It was to thank the police department for letting them use the football field at our Regional Police Academy to practice on for free. The team has been practicing there since August and continue to do so now. We really appreciate this heartfelt gesture from the team and are proudly displaying their trophy inside the Academy. Captain Daniel Gates accepted the trophy on behalf of the department.

Our Police Academy facilities are available for community use. If you're interested, call 413-3500. If you'd like to host a special event there, you can rent rooms and even the auditorium. More information is available here.

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Tactical teams give Trail of Heroes a facelift

Because of the demanding nature of their work, our tactical team officers must stay in peak physical condition. They spend many hours a week undergoing physical training, but they engaged in a pretty novel way of working out last Thursday: spreading mulch.

I hope you’ve had the chance to visit the Trail of Heroes on the campus of the Kansas City Regional Police Academy. It’s a 1.5-mile mulch trail that runs through woods, by a pond and other beautiful scenery near 6885 N.E. Pleasant Valley Road. Benches along the trail commemorate fallen officers, and it’s open for everyone to come use. Unfortunately, significant rains in the last few months had caused bad erosion on the trail, and more mulch was needed to keep the walking path accessible. That’s where our tactical teams came in. They used their normal physical training time to help spread 300 cubic yards of mulch – enough to fill three 18-wheelers’ trailers. Working with Capital Improvements officers who designed the trail, the tac teams spread all this mulch in eight hours. They even added another leg to the trail that runs by a second pond. Everyone agreed it was a pretty good workout.

The tac teams weren’t the only ones working on the trail in the past few days. Two Boy Scouts are doing their Eagle Scout projects there – one is setting up a picnic area, and another is building a memorial to officers who died in the 1933 Union Station Massacre. Another group of Scouts will be camping along the trail soon.

The Trail of Heroes is now in tip-top shape and ready for you and your family to stop by and take advantage of.

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Enroll now for the fall 2010 Kansas City Missouri Citizens Police Academy

UPDATE, Sept. 2: The fall 2010 session of the KCPD Citizens Police Academy is full. Thanks for your interest! Another session will take place in spring 2011, and we'll announce it here.
__________________________________________________

The next course of the KCPD Citizens Police Academy begins at 6 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy, 6885 N.E. Pleasant Valley Road. This free class meets for 10 weeks, three hours each Thursday night, and explains how KCPD works. Participants also take field trips to places like the Helicopter and Canine Units, Bomb and Arson Unit and the Kansas City Regional Crime Laboratory. Experienced police officers and instructors offer briefings, demonstrations, and engage in frank discussions about police operations with class participants. All participants also will go on a ride-along with a patrol officer.

Topics covered during the Citizens Police Academy include overviews of our department structure, information on police recruiting and training and hands-on workshops in various areas. Some of the areas explored include:

Accident Investigation
Bomb & Arson
Criminal Investigations
Firearms Training
Helicopter Unit
Homicide
Hostage Negotiation
K-9 Unit
Narcotics Investigations
Police Dispatch - 911 Service
Tactical Response Teams
Vice Investigations

The Citizens Police Academy operates on the premise that informed, educated residents will be more supportive of police officers and promote safety in their communities. Admission to the program is open to anyone 18 or older who lives or works in Kansas City, Mo., has good standing in the community and can pass a criminal background investigation.

Click here for more information, and here for the application.

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Meet your newest KCPD officers

KCPD Entrant Officer Class 141 graduated last night from the Kansas City Regional Police Academy, and they'll hit the streets this weekend. They have been assigned to the Central, East, Metro and South patrol divisions. They'll spend their first few months on patrol with a tenured Field Training Officer.

There were 25 graduates altogether, and they began their training back on January 25, 2010. Here's how they break down demographically:

23 males, 2 females
20 white, 4 black, 1 Hispanic

I'm very proud of these new officers and wish them the best of luck.

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The newest Kansas City Police officers

Meet your newest KCPD officers. They had their badges pinned on last night at the Police Academy graduation and swore to uphold local, state and federal laws. These 28 men and women are Kansas City's 140th Entrant Officer Class. They range in age from 22 to 44. There are seven women, 21 men, and 10 are ethnic minorities. Their class was funded as part of the federal COPS Hiring Recovery Program grant we received last year.


These officers now begin their probationary break-in period. They will spend the next eight weeks with a field training officer learning to apply their academy training to real-world policing on the streets of Kansas City. After their first six months, a review board will decide whether they can come off probation to become full-fledged officers.


I look forward to seeing what these new officers can do. One of them could one day have my job.


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