Leawood Police Department 2022 Annual Report
Mayor Dunn, Members of the City Council & Leawood Community,
Letter from the Chief
Thank you for the honor of serving as your Chief of Police. I cannot imagine a community that supports its Police Department more than what is experienced here, and your support is truly appreciated by all of us at the department.
In addition to doing what we can to sustain the high level of safety in Leawood, another top priority of ours is to be proactive in developing and maintaining an overall positive relationship with our community. To this end, during the past year the Leawood Police Department re-established several community outreach events that had been put on hold due to the pandemic, including the ever-popular Fishing Derby for kids, the Citizens Police Academy, and our Open House. Other community events in which we participated were the 4th of July Celebration in the Park, numerous speaking engagements with civic groups, educational presentations, Coffee with a Cop events, and many other opportunities in which we met with our citizens. Altogether, we participated in about 100 community engagement activities throughout 2022.
Regarding your safety, it is my pleasure to once again report that the City of Leawood remains one of the safest cities in Kansas. According to the 2022 SafeWise.com report, Leawood was one of the top ten safest cities in Kansas; in fact, within this exclusive group Leawood was ranked as the safest among cities with a population over 25,000. The most recent crime index released by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation revealed the city’s violent crime rate of 0.7 per 1,000 citizens to be the lowest of all cities in Johnson County with a population exceeding one thousand. And, most importantly, I am once again pleased to inform you that there were no homicides in 2022.
A continuing disappointment, however, are the number of property crimes that occurred during the past year. Even though burglaries in Leawood remained on a downward trend, thefts, auto burglaries, and auto thefts increased substantially. It serves as no solace that these particular types of crimes have not only significantly increased locally, but they also proved to be a national trend in 2022. Once again, these negative property crime statistics serve as a reminder for all of us to make sure our garage doors are closed and vehicles are locked when unoccupied and that no valuables are in view inside the locked vehicles.
The number of vehicle crashes within Leawood’s city limits decreased slightly in 2022 as compared to 2021, and the better news is that the number of injury accidents fell substantially.
A few of the department highlights in 2022 included being the first police department in the metropolitan area to introduce an electric vehicle into a patrol fleet; expanding the department’s social media presence by formally adding Facebook and Twitter to keep citizens better informed; being presented with our ninth AAA Kansas Traffic Safety Platinum Award; hosting local blood drives at the Justice Center; having several employees recognized with lifesaving awards for a number of emergency events that required immediate action to save the life of another; and presenting the first-ever department Awards for Valor to the heroic officers who were involved in saving the life of the victim of a fiery vehicle crash in November that drew local, state, and national attention.
As we progress into the New Year we will continue striving for excellence in our service to all of you. On behalf of the women and men of the Leawood Police Department, I wish everyone all the best in 2023.
Dale Finger, Chief of Police
Dale Finger was chosen as the department’s 10th Chief of Police in 2021. Focusing on the department’s values of Integrity, Teamwork, Service, Fairness and Dedication, Chief Finger leads the organization’s budgeted staff of 84 employees – 62 commissioned officers and 22 civiliansthat are divided into three divisions: Administrative Services, Operations and Support Services.
Days Evenings Overnights
Misc. Part II Crimes
The Leawood Police Department’s operating budget for 2022 was set at $12.2 million, an increase from $11.4 million in 2021. The single largest cost was its personnel. Contractual services includes utilities, software and other technology contracts and the nine school crossing guards hired through a subcontractor. The department’s commodities costs include fuel for patrol cars, uniforms and training expenses. Finally, the capital costs covers large purchases such as fleet upgrades.
The vast majority of these funds come from the city’s General Fund with most of the rest coming from the city’s Capital Fund. Factoring the budget for the police department across the city’s population of 35,807 shows a budgeted amount of $341 per citizen. With a budgeted strength of 62 officers, this is a ratio of one officer per 577 citizens.
2022 Spring Highlights
April 30th dawned with bright blue skies for the Leawood Police Department’s Fishing Derby. A total of 76 juvenile participants and their families turned out to try their luck. One youth reeled in a 20” catfish to grab the biggest fish honors while another found a hot spot and hooked a half dozen fish to take the ‘most fish’ prize and everyone got at least one doughnut.
2022 Spring Highlights 2022 Spring Highlights
The Leawood Police Department was excited to again partner with the Great Plains SPCA to host a different Pup on Patrol each month. The dogs available for adoption visit the Justice Center for a day to socialize and possibly get adopted. In February Boo Bear visited us and ended up making a connection with Administrative Services Coordinator Karry Rood, who ended up adopting him. Later in June, Officer Eric Gould (above) and his family adopted Sake.”
2022 Summer Highlights
PD adds green vehicle to black and white fleet
This year the Leawood Police Department introduced a Tesla Model Y electric vehicle into its fleet of black and white patrol cars. The department first began exploring the idea of adding an electric vehicle to its fleet last year after finding that reviews for currently available hybrid patrol cars were not favorable. “I ended up contacting about 10 agencies from New York to California,” Capt. Kirt Yoder, the agency’s project manager said of his early quest for information. “Tesla-Kansas City was great. They were eager to help and answer all our questions.” An early cost comparison done more than a year ago, when the city was able to purchase gas for $1.75 a gallon, showed that the current Ford Explorer Patrol SUV would cost about $4,500 a year for energy costs to operate while a Tesla, based on the 2021 cost of $0.08/kilowatt hour, would cost $648 a year in energy costs.
Last August a presentation was made to the Leawood City Council and they unanimously approved the police department moving forward. That is when the real work began. Working with outfitters at Ka-Comm Inc. in Olathe, the project slowly took shape and the vehicle is finally ready to hit the streets. It is expected to have a four-year service life, a year longer than the Ford Explorer it replaced.
“I think electric vehicles are going to be the future and this is going to be a good foundation for us,” Yoder said. “Some officers have concerns because this is a smaller vehicle and the extra equipment (of a patrol car) eats into their work space, but others are excited for the new technology.”
June
8,
2022 TORNADO Touchdown!
Downed trees, tree limbs and power lines closed 95th Street between Mission Road and Lee Boulevard as well as several other side streets. City of Leawood crews worked with local utility workers to rebuild the infrastructure.
2022 Summer Highlights 2022 Summer Highlights
On the evening of 06/14/2022 reports of an active fire located on the 4th floor of a senior living apartment complex in Leawood’s south district. Two Leawood officers were first on scene and began checking rooms on the 4th floor, assisting with the safe evacuation of residents and communicating which rooms were occupied and which residents needed assistance with evacuation. All residents were evacuated and safe and the fire was extinguished by Leawood Fire Fighters. Overland Park Fire Department also responded to provide mutual aid.
Leawood Traffic
Officer Andrew Bacon is never too busy to assist a future officer celebrate his birthday!
2022 Fall Highlights
After several years off due to COVID, the department resumed its Citizen Police Academy program, hosting 18 citizens for a 10-week look into the inner workings of the department and the county jail.
2022 Fall Highlights
Some of the 227.3g of marijuana, 4g of methamphetamine and ill-gotten cash recovered by Leawood Officers in August.
ACO Carla Lewis is also a regional animal search and rescue volunteer and she was deployed to Florida in October to help rescue animals stranded by the flood waters of Hurricane Ian.
Traffic Officers Mark Chudik and Coby Shields help the All City Management Service’s crossing guard stop traffic so participants in the Oct. 12th Bike to School Day can safely complete the final leg to Brookwood Elementary School.
On Aug. 22nd, Officer Josh Hayes and K9 Kimo responded to assist Prairie Village PD officers who’d interrupted a residential burglary in the area of 76th and Maple. Kimo tracked the suspect to the laundry room of a nearby condo complex, where he tried to hide in the insulation of a crawl space. However, when he heard Kimo’s bark and Officer Hayes’ commands to surrender, he emerged and was arrested.
2022 Community Interactions 2022 Community Interactions
2022 Community Interactions
Severe storm clouds / lightning strikes grew too close to a 5K family run. The race was shut down for safety. Stranded and soaked racers were provided courtesy rides to their vehicles.
Another day and another tire change service for
12
Leawood Officer Riley Hulse,
Leawood Police Chief Finger along with Captains Osborn and Robbins host the Dialogue Institute of Kansas City at the Police Department.
Leawood employees, plus family members, picked up trash along I-435 in Leawood.
2022 Winter Highlights
Leawood PD’s Timehin Babalola, Trey Richardson, Julie Berger, Anna Hill and Cody Morse were among the area law enforcement personnel participating in December’s Operation Rudolph charitable event.
Leawood Officers Morgan VanHarn, Chantelle Dietz and Christina Farquhar participate in the 2nd Annual Duck Donuts Toy Drive.
2022 Winter Highlights
On Wednesday, Nov. 23rd, Dispatcher Greg Damron heard KCMO PD dispatch officers to a shooting at 100th and Wornall. He heard a vehicle description, was able to locate the vehicle on area traffic cameras and alerted Leawood officers as it turned west on 103rd Street. Officer John McLaughlin saw the suspect vehicle turn north at 103rd and State Line. McLaughlin followed it to n/b US 71, where KCMO officers caught up to him, stopped the van and took the two shooting suspects into custody.
Leawood Officers Cody Morse, (Lt.) Christina Farquhar (2nd Lt.) and Trey Richardson (4th Lt.) participate in Rock & Brews Tip-a-Cop Special Olympics fundraiser.
After an extensive search of area surveillance video, Detective Jesse Ryman identified a suspect vehicle in the Nov. 27th armed robbery of the Zipz Store, 4821 W. 135th. He then worked with Overland Park Police Detectives to identify a suspect. When the same suspect struck a second time on Dec. 15th, detectives obtained a warrant the following morning and found evidence of the robberies while also taking the suspect into custody. The Overland Park resident was eventually charged with two counts of armed robbery for events in our city.
The same day, Dec. 16th, Detective Curtis Rice interviewed an in custody suspect at the Jackson County, MO, Jail and he confessed to the Dec. 13th armed robbery in the parking lot of Town Center Plaza.
State Farm Agent Matyra Gieseler and Jake from State Farm offered pies to her clients and Leawood First Responders in November.
Community Interactions
Last year members of the department participated in a total of 97 community interaction events, including:
• 7 Justice Center tours
• 3 ALICE (civilian response to active shooters) instructional sessions for businesses
Leawood citizens show their continuous support for the men and women of the Leawood Police Department.
• 4 home owners association meeting speaking engagements
• SRO Farquhar’s new initiative, Wednesday Welcomes, for officers to greet arriving students at Leawood schools and help kick off their mornings.
Of fi cer Andrew Bacon visited some Leawood classrooms to show how math figures into everyday life. Here, he shows how officers determine the friction factor for a roadway when estimating speeds.
2022 Officer of the Year 2022 Civilian Employee of the Year
The Leawood Police Department’s 2022 Officer of the Year was awarded to Detective Mark Teerink.
Mark began his career with our department as a patrol officer in 2010 and in 2019, Mark was selected to fill a vacant detective slot in the Investigations Unit. During the past year Mark has worked a variety of criminal cases, and the successful resolutions of a few of them are particularly noteworthy.
“Over the last two years (Mark) has really excelled on fraud/white collar crime cases. Working these cases requires diligence and a meticulous attention to detail. In the last year, Detective Teerink has obtained charges on three suspects who defrauded more than $600,000 from their victims. He also located $22,000 stolen in a business e-mail compromise and was able to freeze it with a seizure warrant before it left the country and was then able to return it to the victims. This was the first such case the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office had successfully used an account seizure warrant in,” Teerink’s initial nomination explained.
These are but a few of the criminal cases in which Mark has been successful at resolving last year, which also included serial burglaries occurring in the metro area, which ultimately led to an investigative partnership with the FBI and criminal charges being filed in federal court.
As if his investigative assignments weren’t enough, Mark tested and achieved his Certified Fraud Investigator Certification through the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators, making him one of only nine with this certification in the Central States Region and one of 419 worldwide.
“My initial reaction was complete surprise and heart-felt gratitude; but also a sincere appreciation for the efforts of everyone in the department who made possible the successes achieved in 2022,” Teerink said of the award. “This job truly is a team effort –from the initial reports taken by patrol officers, to other detectives assisting with various aspects of investigations, to administrative support for the necessary training and resources – and nothing I was credited with in receiving this award could have been achieved without that.”
The Leawood Police Department’s 2022 Civilian Employee of the Year award was presented to Karry Rood, the agency’s Administrative Services Coordinator/budget manager.
Earlier in 2022, Karry, who transferred to the department from City Hall in 2016, expressed an interest in researching and pursuing potential state or federal grant funding for the department. Chief Dale Finger turned her loose on an attempt to discover any grant programs that might benefit our operations. With the assistance of Captain Osborn, Karry completed an extensive grant application for a U.S. Department of Justice COPS grant, requesting funding in excess of $67,000 for a Virtual Reality training system that would present realistic scenarios to officers on de-escalation techniques, duty to intervene exercises, bias-based policing situations, effective communication techniques, officer safety techniques, and other training scenarios. After a review by the DOJ, Karry’s grant request was granted.
“I cannot overstate what a significant enhancement this will provide for our training program,” said Chief Dale Finger. “We have Karry to thank for her determination and diligence in seeing this through.”
“When the Chief was reading off the reason for the award, the grant success, I felt I finally contributed something towards the department’s benefit,” Rood said. “It means so much to me to be able to help officers improve their abilities and to help them stay safe.”
Aside from her high level of competence in our budget office, Karry is a member of our agency’s Support Committee; she again coordinated the City’s annual ‘Bike to Work Day’ this year and her motivational character also saw her initiate the first-ever ‘Christmas Window’ contest for employees to use their creativity and skills to create Christmas-themed window presentations around the Justice Center. Personally taking the monthly ‘Doggie Day’ to heart, Karry adopted one of those for her own, and now Boo Bear has a loving home.
“Karry is always willing to help others and has a very positive vibe, day in and day out,” read a nomination.
Detective Mark Teerink
Karry Rood, Police Administrative Services Coordinator
2022 Officers of the Quarter
Over the first quarter of 2022, Officer Parcels located two stolen autos, presented several roll call trainings for his fellow employees, helped build his newly reorganized Midnight Crew by bringing in a crew dinner; helped lead the overnight shift in self-initiated contacts and completed 400 house checks and open door notifications. Additionally, he also volunteered his time off to come in and cover other crew vacancies.
During the second quarter of 2022, Officer VanHarn was recognized as the Officer of the Quarter after receiving a Letter of Commendation for her actions at a senior living center fire; tracked down a felony DUI suspect who had a warrant for his arrest; and wrapped up and completed DA submissions on a hit and run and an aggravated burglary case. Additionally she was lauded for her empathy in the manner in which she handled the arrest of an employee with a felony warrant at a victim business.
Officer Owens was recognized in October 2022 for his outstanding service to the Leawood community. During the last quarter he completed a high level of self-initiated contacts, including several DUI and drug cases; started CPR on an unresponsive resident who was eventually revived, earning his second LPD Lifesaving Award; and volunteered to cover multiple shift coverages for other crews who were shorthanded due to illnesses or training.
Officer Frager was chosen as the Fourth Quarter of 2022’s Employee of the Quarter after making several outstanding arrests and continuing his community involvement on behalf of the city. During the final three months of 2022, Officer Frager had 18 self-initiated arrests including two drug cases, one fleeing and eluding case and a weapons/ drug case that began when he stopped to investigate some suspicious activity at Town Center Plaza and included a brief foot pursuit before a known felon with a firearm in his waistband and drugs in his vehicle was taken into custody. In addition, Officer Frager participated in the DEA Drug Takeback Event, the department’s highway clean-up, the metro-wide Light Up the Night holiday event at Children’s Mercy Hospital, and was the recipient of two citizen compliments.
Q4
Morgan VanHarn
Roy Owens
Scott Frager
2022 TOP GUN AWARD
The annual Top Gun competition is a challenging course of fi that tests officers’ skills in a timed format and this year was no exception. This year’s course featured four stages: three with the standard side arm and one with a patrol rifle. In an added twist, this year’s timed events required accuracy, as a failure to place all of the required shots inside a small area resulted in elimination from the contest. At the end of the competition, only four officers were able to successfully complete the accuracy portion and Cpl. Matt Schroeder bested Cpl. Erik Butler by just over 3 seconds (30.07 to 33.82). The other two shooters with the required accuracy were Sgt. Nick Rothwell and Officer Carter Daniel.
Anniversaries
Anniversaries
2022 Annual Awards
2022 Annual Awards
The annual department awards dinner offers a chance to recognize all of the contributions and hard work of our employees. Still, no end of the year event is complete without an ugly sweater contest. This year, in a rock-paper-scissors battle of the finalists, rookie Jesse Caraveo emerged ‘victorious!’
Years
In November of 2022, members of the Leawood Police Department made international news as a video clip of their heroic efforts to pull a woman from a burning car at a crash scene was shared with the world. A speeding vehicle crossed into a city park trailhead and struck a tree before rolling sideways across the hood of a parked vehicle and bursting into flames. The initial officer on scene, Officer Josh Hayes, began checking for injuries and heard a female voice coming from within the overturned vehicle. He broke out the vehicle's rear window and began calling out, trying to locate her inside the smoke filled interior.
Officer Trey Richardson and Cpl. Robert Mahon arrived, grabbed fire extinguishers and began spraying the flames. The officers focused spraying extinguishers into the interior of the vehicle until they were empty. Cpl. Mahon then obtained a third fire extinguisher from a responding and emptied its contents into the broken out rear of the vehicle, directing it towards the passenger compartment where officers could still hear a female's voice crying out. Officers were unable to see inside the vehicle to get the victim's exact location due to heavy smoke, heat and flames.
“ “Dear Chief,
To say your officers who pulled the woman out of the burning car, yesterday, are heroes is an understatement.
My daughter was running the “trail” and saws the incident take place. She was shocked but amazed at the bravery your officers exhibited….
You have a great, brave group of officers! We are fortunate to have them in Leawood! Thanks for keeping us safe!
After emptying the third fire extinguisher, Mahon heard Officer Andrew Bacon yell that he could see the victim's feet near the rear of the vehicle on the passenger side. Mahon, Bacon, Hayes, and Richardson attempted to pull her out, but were unable to do so initially due to the angle of the vehicle. Officer Mark Chudik, Richardson and a recently arrived Leawood fire fighter tilted the vehicle to create some more space while the other officers pulled the victim out of the vehicle. Animal Control Officer Jerry Webb had also arrived and continued to spray fire extinguishers on the fire to protect the woman and officers.
Once out of the vehicle, the victim was still partially conscious. Bacon sprayed her still smoldering clothing and Mahon pulled the clothing away from her face and chest. As a tire exploded on the still burning vehicle, Mahon, Bacon, Hayes and Chudik lifted the female victim and carried her to an ambulance gurney so she could begin receiving medical treatment for her injuries. The officers then began checking the area for additional victims, interviewing nearby witnesses and assisting the fire department in putting out the flaming vehicle. - Continued on next page
2022 Lifesaving Actions
2022 Lifesaving Actions (Continued)
Several of the officers were checked by medical personnel for smoke inhalation, but fortunately none had to be transported. The female victim was transported to a local burn unit where she was found to have second and third degree burns on more than 30% of her body. In recognition of their bravery and disregard for their own safety while approaching the burning vehicle to save the life of the motorist, the fi cers were each awarded the Leawood Police Department’s Medal of Valor and ACO Webb was awarded the department’s Lifesaving Award for his assistance in the rescue.
While this event was the most public, several other Leawood employees also received Lifesaving Awards last year after assisting with several sudden cardiac arrest events in which a pulse was reestablished.
Officer Shane Parcels was recognized with a Lifesaving Award in May. He responded with Leawood Fire personnel on the report of a pedestrian in cardiac arrest and assisted with providing CPR that eventually restored a pulse.
That same month, Of cer Scott Frager was awarded a Lifesaving Award after he responded to the White family residence where an adult daughter had called 9-1-1 after her mother went into cardiac arrest and was now performing CPR. Frager took over CPR until rescue personnel arrived and then helped to comfort family members at the scene. Mrs. White made a full recovery and appeared at a City Council meeting to share her thanks.
A month later, Officer Carter Daniel received the Lifesaving Award when he responded to the report of a golfer in cardiac arrest on the Leawood Country Club course and took over for compressions from the first rescuer on scene.
Officer Roy Owens earned his second Lifesaving Award in September when he was the first rescuer to arrive at a Leawood residence where a 73-year-old resident was in cardiac arrest. He calmly started CPR while also verbally directing another resident on how to set up his automatic external heart defibrillator (AED). After other rescuers arrived, he too remained on scene to comfort the other residents and explain what was happening.
The White family graciously share their appreciation for Leawood’s First Responders at the September 6th Leawood City Council meeting.
he Administrative Services Division is comprised of the Professional Standards, Property and Evidence, Records and Dispatch units. The division is staffed by four commissioned officers and 20 non-commissioned employees whose work is essential to meeting the high standard of service we provide for our community. The Professional Standards Sergeant investigates all citizen complaints and also coordinates the hiring of new employees as well as the continued in-service training of current employees
Captain Troy Osborn joined the Leawood Police Department in 2000 after starting his career in law enforcement with the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office. He served as a Patrol Officer, Training Officer, Motorcycle Officer, EVOC Instructor and Field Supervisor before his promotion to Captain in 2021.
Communications Highlights:
• Entered 30,714 events into CAD
• Upgraded Leawood Dispatch in conjunction with Johnson County System.
• Expanded camera and license plate reader technology solving numerous cases. Assisted with several trainings and situationals at the Police Academy Communications Officer Rachel Snooks coordinated several community
All police radio consoles were updated with new encrypted regional
Incoming 9-1-1- Emergency Calls to Dispatch
2022 Total Phone Calls
37,127
2022 Total Dispatched Calls
12,383
Captain Troy Osborn, Administrative Division Commander
PoliceRecruitment Officer PoliceRecruitment Officer Map
102 Applicants
Administrative Services
Records Highlights:
• Records doubled volume of fingerprinting services for Leawood residents/employers.
• Two civilian employees have been certified as drone pilots for the Department.
• Each Records Specialist accomplished customer service training through MARC to enhance the community’s contact with the Leawood Police Department.
• Performed 6,376 Report Acknowledgements
• KORA/ Discovery Requests: 900
• Background- 551
• Expungements- 42
• Permits- 6
• DA Packages- 127
Additional Recruitment Highlights:
• 18 applications for two 2022 Internships- Filled
• 11 applications for one
Kayla Vargas
New Police Officer Hires:
Property Unit
The Property Unit is responsible for managing all of the physical items seized as evidence or recovered for safekeeping by officers.
2022 Pieces of Property Processed
1,986 pcs. Taken In 3,732 pcs. Disposed Of
It took officers more than 4 hours to count, log, document & test items in this drug possession and distribution case. The subject was armed at time of arrest.
Operations Division
The largest and most visible of the department's many units, the members of the Operations or Patrol Division perform much of the publicly visible work of law enforcement in the City of Leawood. The division's 38 patrol officers are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to calls for service.
Captain Kirt Yoder is the Operations Division Commander. He joined the Leawood Police Department in 1999 and served as a patrol officer, motorcycle officer and supervisor before his promotion to Captain in 2019.
Operations Division Highlights:
• Over 80 impaired driver arrests
• Participated in active threat training at a school and a church
• Introduced a Tesla patrol vehicle into the fleet
• Focused efforts on our shoplifting areas during the holiday season resulting in 13 additional arrests; 4 pending charges and one federal case.
• 59 guns seized
Patrol officers took the following off the streets of Leawood in 2022:
• 260 Drug Incidents
• 21 grams of cocaine
• 90 grams of amphetamines
• 4.5 pounds of marijuana
• 13 grams of fentanyl
• 1,000+ various illicit pills
Total Citations Issued 2022
Captain Kirt Yoder, Operations Division Commander
The Support Services Division is made up the department’s Investigation Unit, Traffic Management Unit and DARE/SRO Community Education Unit. The officers who make up these diverse units were selected to receive specialized training and transferred to fill a position in this division after years of experience in the Patrol Division.
Capt. Brad Robbins was named the division commander in January 2020, after having previously supervised the Administrative Services and Operations Divisions since being promoted to the command staff in 2015.
Support Services Highlights:
2022 Community Events: 97 Support Services
• Detective Mark Teerink obtained his Certified Fraud Investigator accreditation from the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators, making him one of only nine in the Kansas/Missouri region and one of only 491 CFIs world-wide. Additionally he was able to secure convictions on several suspects who had stolen nearly $600,000 from elderly citizens.
• Detective Jesse Ryman was able to identify a suspect in two armed business robberies and assist in the capture of the suspect, who was charged in three other events in Overland Park as well. On the same day in December, Detective Curtis Rice was able to obtain a conviction from a second armed robbery suspect who had victimized a woman sitting in a shopping center parking lot.
• Working with neighboring agencies and the FBI, the Investigations team identified and arrested two bank robbery suspects within five hours of their Leawood heist. The unit also helped identify a serial auto burglar and get him charged in more than 30 crimes.
• The Traffic Unit completed 36 traffic speed surveys throughout the city, monitoring 644,441 cars that on average were traveling .3 miles below the posted limit. Working with Patrol units, officers worked 446 Traffic Complaint Areas including areas around all seven school zones.
Captain Brad Robbins, Support Services Division Commander
• The SRO/Community Education Officers spearheaded the department’s community engagement efforts, including the return of the Leawood Youth Fishing Derby in April, the Citizen’s Police Academy in September and a department Open House event in October as well as continuing our involvement in the holiday Toys for Tots drive and Operation Rudolph.
SRO Timehin Babalola
SRO Timehin Babalola
SRO Christina Farquhar SRO Christina Farquhar
SRO Cody Morse
Cody Morse
SRO Timehin Babalola strikes a pose on his first day back at school.
Support Services
SRO Timehin Babalola going through some safety tips and procedures with the staff at Leawood Middle School.
Goff Retires
The Leawood Police Department lost a key contributor on June 17, 2022. DARE/Community Relations Officer Phil Goff, who over the course of his career met and interacted with thousands of citizens in our community, retired after 27 years of service. At the time of his retirement, Phil was the longest-serving officer in Leawood.
Phil joined the department in January of 1995 after working a year and a half as a communications of fi cer for the Lee’s Summit Police Department. After graduating from the Johnson County Regional Police Academy he was assigned to the Patrol Division. Four years later he received training as a DARE Officer and was assigned as a School Resource Officer for Leawood Middle and Elementary Schools –
SRO Christina Farquhar proudly representing Leawood PD on her 1st day back at school!
Officers Tom Eisenhut, Timehin Babalola and Jeremy Roberts helped students at Nativity Parish School navigate the crosswalks on Oct. 12th as part of the national Bike-Walk to School event.
beginning the first of nearly 10 years in the city’s schools. Phil rotated back to the Patrol Division in 2004 and was soon promoted to Master Patrol Officer with some supervisory responsibilities as well as working as a Patrol Training Officer to teach new officers. In 2017 he was chosen to return to the schools, this time as a DARE Officer at Brookwood, Corinth and Cure of Ars as well as working to increase the department’s presence in the community.
With his many years in schools, a common question for other officers was “Do you know Phil Goff?”
During his career, Phil was a recipient of the agency’s Lifesaving Award as well as several Civic Achievement Awards recognizing his work in the community. He was the department’s first officer to be trained in investigating Environmental Crimes and also served the department as one of its first Peer Support Team members as well as being one of the first Crisis Intervention Team members, trained to respond to calls involving mentally ill subjects.
Investigations Highlights:
The six investigators handled 439 new criminal cases assigned for investigation, 1074 Investigative Reports were reviewed and Detectives were able to close 273 of these. They completed 20 pre-employment background investigations, assisted on several outside agency assists including two Metro Squad murder investigations and two Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team investigations. Another outside agency assist was a multi-agency, metro wide effort saw a pair of brothers who were prolific auto thieves and burglars charged with more than two dozen felonies. Detectives were also able to clear four of the six robberies, including the capture of two bank robbery suspects within five hours of the crime.
2022 Mental Health 2022 Investigations
The mental health of the public we serve as well as that of our employees remains a top priority of the Leawood Police Department. Internally, we expanded our Peer Support Team by adding two officers and continued our mental health ‘check-ups’ with a licensed professional for the second year. ,
Externally Leawood Officers were dispatched to 425 calls that had a mental health component (3.43% of all dispatched calls). An invaluable partner in our response to these calls was our Johnson County Mental Health co-responder. A co-responder is a licensed mental health professional who is available to assist officers on mental health related calls as well as conduct follow-up with those in need of additional resources. This program was so effective that in 2022 the Leawood City Council authorized funding to hire a second co-responder.
Additionally, the agency completed the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s One Mind Campaign (www.theiacp.org/ projects/one-mind-campaign ). This voluntary program involved establishing a formal partnership with the Johnson County Mental Health on how to interact with the mentally ill, having a written policy on these interactions as well as insuring training – at least 8 hours of Mental Health First Aid for all officers and the 40-hour nationally recognized CIT training for at least 25% of officers. The LPD exceeded this quota with 70% of our officers and 40% of our dispatchers CIT trained.
Support Services
In an effort to foster better and more timely communication with the community it serves, the Leawood Police Department expanded its presence on Facebook and Twitter to go along with the established presence on Nextdoor. If you’re not already doing so, please consider following us @LeawoodPolice.
SOCIAL MEDIA
