Leawood Police Department
Integrity • • Teamwork Teamwork • • Service Service • • Fairness Fairness • • Dedication Dedication Integrity
2019Annual Report
WORKING TOGETHER Last year the Leawood Police Department responded to 96 injury crashes, 280 fire calls (smoke investigations, hazardous materials, gas odor investigations and fires) and 1817 medical calls with our partners from the Leawood Fire Department.
Welcome to the 2019 Police Department Annual Report. With this report we intend to provide insight into the past year at our department. 2019 was a busy year for us with our overall calls for service being up 3.5%. Although calls for service increased, our crime rate remains low. In 2019 our overall property crime rate fell 18% with a 14% reduc?on in burglaries and a 47% reduc?on in theQ from autos. The crime rate reflected posi?vely on rankings provided by outside sources. Safewise named Leawood one of the Top 5 Safest Ci?es in the state while Background Checks.org and Alarms.org ranked us as the safest city in Kansas. Unfortunately, our community, like others throughout the country, has realized an increase in calls with a mental health component. To address this increase last year we modified our Johnson County Mental Health Co-Responder program to only share the Co-Responder with Prairie Village rather than the 7 other ci?es we shared the posi?on with prior. Although the new arrangement has only been fully implemented since August, we are seeing a substan?al increase in services available to our ci?zens with this new arrangement. As always, the members of the police department appreciated the tremendous support we received from our Leawood ci?zens and city council this past year. On behalf of the men and women of our police department I would like to thank you for that.
Troy Re(g Chief of Police
LETTER FROM THE CHIEF
Mayor Dunn, Members of the City Council & Leawood Ci?zens,
ADMINISTRATION
Troy Rettig Chief of Police
Dale Finger Support Services Division Commander
Chief Troy Rettig, the city’s ninth police chief, was named Chief of Police in September of 2015. He began his career in Leawood in 1993. Chief Rettig oversees a staff that is divided into three divisions: Administrative Services, Support Services and Operations. The Leawood Police Department has an authorized strength of 84 - 62 police officers and 22 civilian personnel. In 2019 the department had a budget of $11.7 million.
Support Services is made up the department’s Investigation Unit, Traffic Management Unit and DARE/SRO Community Education Unit. All but one of the members of these units are commissioned officers who, after several years on Patrol, were selected to receive specialized training and transferred to fill a position in this division. Capt. Dale Finger, who joined the agency in 2006 after 32 years with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, is the division commander.
Brad Robbins Operations/Patrol Division Commander
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p a C
Kirt Yoder
Administration Services
Division Commander
Easily the 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 patrol officers are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week spread throughout the city in their b l a c k a n d w h i t e p a t ro l vehicles. Capt. Brad Robbins, who was first hired in 1995, is the division commander.
Administrative Services is comprised of the Professional Standards, Property and Evidence, Records and Dispatch units. This Division is staffed by four commissioned officers and 20 non-commissioned employees whose work is essential to meeting the high s t a n d a rd o f s e r v i c e w e provide for our community. Captain Kirt Yoder, who joined the police department 20 years ago, is the Administrative Services Division Commander.
Administrative Assistant
Commander Support Services
Commander Administrative Services
Police Finance Admin. Asst.
Investigations Sergeant
Commander Operations
Specialty Unit Sergeant
Patrol Crew Sergeant
Patrol Crew Sergeant
Patrol Crew Sergeant
Admin. Assistant
Traffic
Corporal
Corporal
Corporal
Detective
Traffic
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Communications Officer
Detective
Traffic
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
ACO
Communications Officer
Detective
Motorcycle
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
PSO
Communications Officer
Detective
Motorcycle
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
PSO
Communications Officer
Detective
Motorcycle
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Communications Officer
DPU Officer
Cyclist
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Communications Officer
DPU Officer
Cyclist
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Warrant Officer
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
DARE/SRO
Canine
Patrol
Patrol
Professional Standards Sgt.
Senior Communications Officer
Records Specialist
Admin. Corporal
Communications Officer
Records Specialist
ACO
Communications Officer
Records Specialist
ACO
Communications Officer Communications Officer
Police Technical Officer
DARE/SRO
DARE/SRO
Canine
ORGANIZATION CHART
Leawood Police Department
CALLS FOR SERVICE
Calls by District:
North
Center
South
Calls by Shift:
Days
Evenings
Overnights
Types of Calls:
Dispatched
Calls for Service by Month:
2017
2018
2019
CALLS FOR SERVICE
Officer Initiated
CRIME STATISTICS
Arrests Adult vs. Juvenile:
Adult Juvenile
Arrests by Type:
2018
2019
Select Property Crimes by Year:
2018
2019
CRIME STATISTICS
2017
CRIME STATISTICS
Select Person Crimes by Year:
2017
2018
2019
EVIDENCE OF THE CRIME This collection of marijuana, THC wax, drug bongs and pipes from a November search warrant is representative of just a small fraction of the hundreds of items of evidence and safekeeping property that were handled by the Leawood Police Department in 2019. Leawood officers and property clerks took in 2,557 items and were able to release 92 back to an owner after the conclusion of a case. 1,527 items were destroyed as they were no longer needed for prosecution.
CRASH STATISTICS
Total Crashes 2013 - 2019:
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Crash Types 2018 vs. 2019:
Alcohol Related Prop Damage <$1,000
2019
Injury Prop Damage $1,000+
CRASH STATISTICS
2018
TRAINING DAYS Training is a very important component of every employee’s year as they work to stay abreast of changing technology and retain familiarity with skills that aren’t used every day. Addi?onally, Kansas State Law mandates that commissioned police officers must complete 40 hours of con?nuing educa?on annually to retain their commission. This training must include a basic firearms qualifica?on as well as an?-bias-based policing training. Leawood officers also receive legal updates and train annually in de-escala?on and hand-to-hand control drills, CPR and First Aid. Emergency vehicle driving courses take place every other year. For our agency’s 58 officers on staff, the required training would equal 2320 hours for minimum cer?fica?on. However, the Leawood Police Department has long prided itself on providing a number of special?es for the ci?zens we serve. To do so requires specialized training that pushes an officer’s annual training hours higher than 40 and last year Leawood Officers logged 3,939.5 hours of training. Police officers earning a state commission for the first ?me must complete a basic law enforcement training curriculum. Newly hired Leawood officers aeend the Johnson County Regional Police Academy, located on the Johnson County Community College campus, complete 667 hours each. Last year Leawood had six new officers complete this training, totaling an addi?onal 4,002 hours of training ?me.
ACTIVE SHOOTER TRAINING- Leawood officers prac?ce with officers from other Johnson County agencies to study strategies and tac?cs for this changing landscape.
During the past year, the Leawood Police Department con?nued to see an increasing demand for assistance with individuals who were mentally ill or suffering mental health emergencies. While the number of mental health related calls con?nued to increase, from 244 in 2018 to 414 last year, the number of suicide aeempts dropped drama?cally, from 28 in 2018 to 7 last year. We believe that some of our success in decreasing the number of suicides was due to efforts of our co-responder program. Partnering with Johnson County Mental Health, we had a trained mental health first responder working part-?me out of our sta?on, responding alongside officers to mental health related calls and conduc?ng follow-ups to insure that individuals were ge(ng connected with mental health services to assist them. In 2019 we refined our program so that we were sharing a co-responder with only Prairie Village, aQer previously sharing one individual with seven different ci?es in Northeast Johnson County. Our newest co-responder, Heather Mason (leQ), started work in August. During the last five months of the year, she had 244 mental health contacts in Leawood, including 30 responses alongside officers to dispatched calls for assistance, 66 in-person follow-ups and 47 more follow-ups by phone. The department also con?nued its employee educa?on on handling mental health calls as part of the Interna?onal Associa?on of Chiefs of Police’s One Mind Campaign. In 2018 LPD joined this campaign, which seeks to ensure successful interac?ons between law enforcement and people impacted by mental illness. The campaign requires wrieen policies in place to guide responses and a partnership with local mental health organiza?ons, both of which we’ve accomplished. The campaign also requires par?cipa?ng agencies to provide Crisis Interven?on Team training (a 40-hour training block on responding to calls involving mental illness) to at least 25% of its officers and pledge that all of its employees have completed at least the 8 hour Mental Health First Aid training course. To date, 52% of our officers and 36% of our civilian staff, primarily dispatchers, have completed CIT training. In all, 58% of our 84 employees have aeained at least the minimum level of training with plans to complete this training in 2020.
Suicides Attempted vs. Completed
Attempted
Completed
MENTAL HEALTH CALLS
Focus on Mental Health Responses
EMPLOYEE AWARDS
Each year members of the Leawood Police Department are able to nominate a fellow employee for recogni?on as the Officer or Civilian Employee of the Year. This past year’s awards were announced in late November at the department’s annual awards dinner.
Jason Ahring – 2019 Officer of the Year The senior detec?ve in the Leawood Police Department’s Inves?ga?ons Unit, Detec?ve Jason Ahring, was chosen as the agency’s 2019 Officer of the Year. As the senior detec?ve, Ahring assists Sgt. Nick Rothwell in some of the organiza?onal details of running the unit as well as helping to train the two new detec?ves who joined the unit this past year. Although he is technically a general assignment detec?ve, Det. Ahring is regularly assigned the highest priority cases in Leawood. This past year alone he has been the lead detec?ve on the agency’s lone homicide, a robbery case and several burglary cases. In addi?on to his work in Leawood, Det. Ahring is a senior inves?gator for the Johnson County District Aeorney’s Officer Involved Shoo?ng Inves?ga?on Team; has served as a member of several Metro Homicide Squads, responding to assist smaller jurisdic?ons with the manpower needed to inves?gate a homicide; and has recently joined the FBI’s Fugi?ve Task Force as a part-?me member. “I was very apprecia?ve of the award and the fact the PD recognized members for their hard work,” Ahring said aQer the award was announced. “During my career I have been very fortunate to work with great people each and every day. Many of those have since re?red, but this type of an award is not an individual award. I received a lot of assistance and support throughout the year, which contributed to the award.” ”I have always heard the sports phrase ‘You want your best player to also be the hardest worker on your team if you want to win championships.’ In the Inves?ga?ons Unit, we have that in Detec?ve Jason Ahring,” Sgt. Rothwell said of the award. Ahring joined the agency in December of 1997. He was chosen for one of the department’s rota?ng inves?ga?ve posi?ons in 2008. Later, aQer proving himself, Ahring was chosen in 2011 to fill a permanent inves?ga?ons vacancy.
Detective Jason Ahring
Regina Shaw-Ellis – 2019 Civilian Employee of the Year Nominated by her peers for the ‘numerous things outside of her normal du?es as a dispatcher’ that she does, Regina Shaw-Ellis was chosen as the 2019 Civilian Employee of the Year.
“I was quite surprised and flaeered to get this award. I definitely don’t think I do anything extraordinary, considering our Dispatch team is the best around, but I’m happy that someone thinks I do.” Shaw-Ellis said. “I’ve always been proud to say I work at Leawood PD and thankful to be able to make a career here.” This year marks the second ?me Shaw-Ellis has won the award, having also been recognized in 2005 aQer ini?ally joined the agency in January of 1998.
Communications Officer Regina Shaw-Ellis
“She is a great team player and it is a pleasure to have her as a co-worker, which is why I feel that she is deserving of being recognized as the civilian employee of the year,” Greg Damron, Communica?ons Supervisor, said of the recogni?on. In addi?on to these awards, several other employees were recognized for their achievements in 2019.
Doug Brokaw – DisMnguished Service Award Brokaw, the Police Technology Officer, was the key figure as the department adopted a new electronic records management soQware system. Star?ng in the first few months of the year, Brokaw organized and led training sessions on the new soQware while also working on all of the behind the scenes details in migra?ng all of our old reports into the new system. As the system was set to ‘go live,’ Brokaw adjusted his schedule to work odd hours and serve as one of the internal help desk people to assist in sor?ng out errors. Brokaw joined the Leawood Police Department in July of 1997 aQer first star?ng his law enforcement career with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. He served as a patrol officer, warrant officer and detec?ve prior to accep?ng his current posi?on in 2018. As the Police Technology Officer, Brokaw brings an officer’s perspec?ve into the selec?on and maintenance of the department’s many technologies including records management, electronic ?cke?ng, body-worn and in-car video systems and other criminal jus?ce databases.
Police Technology Officer Doug Brokaw
EMPLOYEE AWARDS
With more than 20 years of experience, Shaw-Ellis has established her own skills and knowledge as a dispatcher and now passes on these lessons as the coordinator of the Communica?ons Officer Training Program and as a trainer herself. Outside of her work as a dispatcher, Shaw-Ellis also maintains the unit’s opera?ons manual, coordinates the unit’s scheduling and is the agency’s Terminal Agency Coordinator (TAC), serving as our point of contact with the Kansas Criminal Jus?ce Informa?on System.
EMPLOYEE AWARDS
Mark Tamosiunas- Top Gun Award Mark Tamosiunas showed that raw talent can some?mes beat out experience in winning the 2019 Top Gun trophy. The Top Gun Award recognizes the best performance on a firing range qualifica?on course that factors in speed and accuracy in using all of the agency’s firearms. Tamosiunas joined the agency in April, aeended the Johnson County Regional Police Academy and completed the agency’s Police Training Officer program in December before gradua?ng to solo patrol duty.
Mark Tamosiunas, POI
2019 Employees of the Quarter
Four department employees were nominated by their peers for the work they put in during each of the year’s quarters.
1st Quarter David Tompkins
2nd Quarter Doug Brokaw
3rd Quarter Matt Schroeder
4th Quarter Jack Bond
Lee Graves re?red in January. Graves joined the department in December 2000 aQer s?nts with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and the Mission Police Department. He is probably best remembered as a motorcycle officer for our agency, having served two s?nts in the Traffic Unit as a motor officer and training dozens of officers in the metro area as a police motorcycle instructor. Deputy Chief Kevin Cauley re?red in March. Cauley joined the department as a police officer in Jan. 1992. He served the first decade-plus of his career in Patrol with the excep?on of a year he spent undercover with the county special inves?ga?ons unit. He was promoted to Corporal in 2000, Sergeant in 2005, Lieutenant in 2008, Captain in 2012 and finally Deputy Chief in 2015. As a commander, Cauley became very involved in the issue of interagency communica?ons and served as a chairman of the Metro Area Regional Council’s Public Safety Radio Interoperability Commieee. He re?red aQer 27 years of service to the city.
Sergeant Ken Whiteside re?red in August. Whiteside started his career with the Leawood Police Department in August 1994. He was promoted to Corporal in 2005 and Sergeant in 2018. He helped develop the county’s Crisis Interven?on Team training, teaching officers across the area how to beeer respond to deal with individuals who are experiencing mental health issues. He was later chosen as the first President of the county CIT council and was a member of the Kansas CIT board. Whiteside was also a long ?me member of the department’s honor guard unit.
Lee Graves, POIV
Kevin Cauley, Deputy Chief
Jim Cogswell, Alarm Coordinator
John Freeman, POIV/ Detective
Ken Whiteside, Sergeant
RETIREMENTS
Alarm Coordinator Jim Cogswell re?red in April. Cogswell first started with the Leawood Police Department as a Communica?ons Officer in Feb. 1996. He took on added responsibili?es documen?ng the agency’s response to alarms. Seeing the rise in false alarms, Cogswell soon helped develop the city’s False Alarm Reduc?on Program and associated city ordinance. Over ?me, he became a reference for other ci?es as the Leawood program was successful in reducing false alarms through enforcement and educa?onal programs. DetecMve John Freeman re?red in June. He started with Leawood in January 1997 aQer serving as a deputy for the Wyandoee County Sheriff’s Office. Freeman was a training officer and evidence technician in the Patrol Unit before being chosen for a rota?ng Detec?ve posi?on in 2009. Three years later he moved into a permanent posi?on aQer a re?rement. During his career Freeman also taught hundreds of people how to drive safely as an emergency vehicle opera?ons instructor for both the department and the regional police academy. Freeman returned to the department in September as a civilian background inves?gator.
2019 PROMOTIONS
Captain Kirt Yoder
Sergeant Shane Chambers
Corporal Chris Hargis
Sergeant Michael Marchese
Corporal Robert Mahon
LOTS OF NEW FACES
In 2019, the Leawood Police Department received 187 applica?ons for its open Police Officer posi?ons. Of this group, approximately half – 97, came in to take the ini?al wrieen test. A total of 67 applicants passed the wrieen test and par?cipated in oral interview boards. As the field con?nued to narrow, 27 applicants interviewed with the Chief of Police and ul?mately 10 received job offers and were hired.
NEW HIRES
The Leawood Police Department welcomed a number of new faces in 2019, including its largest swearing in ceremony ever when seven new police officers were welcomed on Dec. 19th. The new officers sworn in by Chief Troy Re(g were (from leQ): Ethan Caldwell, Kane Romp, Jake Woods, Jesse Nash, Shane Parcels, Nick Hoover and Brieney Cannon. Also hired in 2019, but not pictured above: Aaron Gray, Trey Richardson and Mark Tamosiunas.
SNOWY DAYS/ NIGHTS In a 72-hour period dealing with a heavy, wet snow storm, Patrol and Dispatch from midnight, Thursday, Jan. 11 to midnight, Sunday, Jan. 13 handled 352 calls for service and generated another 136 calls themselves. This included 176 traffic calls, 25 crashes (including two in which people struck stopped patrol cars), 23 fire calls and 15 medical calls.
MAJOR INCIDENTS
Leawood officers faced several uncharacterisMc events in 2019. In April, an intoxicated, suicidal subject fired shots at officers responding to check his welfare. With the assistance of neighboring agencies, officers were able to bring this event to a safe resoluMon. The subject was taken into custody without injury and the only damage was to his home and one patrol car. In December, Leawood officers were called to invesMgate a homicide, the first in five years in the city.
RAINY DAY On June 23, severe weather again struck Leawood and the surrounding area. A line of severe thunderstorms caused flooding that closed Lee Boulevard from 105th Street to Mission Road and stalled out this car (pictured). Indian Creek along State Line rose more than a foot above its 20 foot flood stage.
Scouts from Cub Scout Pack 3010 placed and decorated an Honor Tree in the Jus?ce Center lobby during the winter holidays. The tree was decorated with blue lights and ornaments recognizing the service of all who serve in law enforcement and more importantly recognizing the lives of the 134 officers killed in the line of duty in 2019, including 18 in December. The display included a picture of many of the fallen officers as well as a notebook with a short biography of each.
Cpl. Erik Butler was one of three current or former Leawood Officers who rode in the 2019 Police Unity Tour, a memorial bike ride that covers approximately 250 miles en route to the Na?onal Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C. At the memorial Butler paused by the wreath laid by all of the riders in memory of those who’ve fallen. The Leawood par?cipants raised $8,000 toward the Police Unity Tour organiza?on, which this year raised nearly $3 million.
HONORING THE FALLEN
Police Officer Cur?s Rice, leQ, was among dozens of officers who gathered in Topeka on May 3 to pay their respects to the approximately 270 law enforcement officers who have given their lives in service to the residents of Kansas.
DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
CELEBRATING HANUKKAH-Officer Scoe Frager was privileged to be invited to the Kansas State Capital on Dec. 22nd to celebrate Hanukkah with Governor Laura Kelly.
FISHING DERBY RETURNS- April 2019 saw the return of the Police Fishing Derby. Officer Phil Goff revitalized this youth outreach project which had not been hosted since 2006 . The event was geared toward kids 12 years of age and younger. The derby was intended to get youth involved in outdoor ac?vi?es as well as building rela?onships between youth and the police. There were 75 young anglers doing their best to reel in the big one in front of a crowd of 250 excited parents, friends and family.
COFFEE WITH A COPsessions held throughout the year give local residents a chance to stop by and have a conversa?on with an officer. Officer Timehin Babalola builds rela?onships as one of Leawood Police Department’s School Resource Officers.
Officer Tommie Eisenhut helps a young fisherman haul in one of the many fish caught at the Police Fishing Derby.
LEAWOOD POLICE CITIZEN’S ACADEMY- Sam Day shows
Kathy Hooper the wealth of informa?on officers have at their finger?ps. She was one of 46 people who took part in the department’s two academy sessions in 2019.
CHARITY RUNNERS- For many years members of the Leawood Police Department have been ac?ve supporters of Kansas Special Olympics. Last year members’ fundraising efforts contributed $27,000 by hos?ng a Leawood-based sec?on of the state-wide Law Enforcement Torch Run, the Midnight Run 5K, a car show and par?cipa?on in the county-wide Polar Plunge.
SOFTENING ENCOUNTERS- Employees at Redemp?on Plus made a generous dona?on of plush toys that Leawood Officers can now hand out to help calm youths in trying situa?ons.
DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
WE APPRECIATE GOODIES- Leawood Police employees are always grateful when residents and local businesses bring in goodies to share with us on Law Enforcement Apprecia?on Day (Jan. 9) and other special days.
NATIONAL DONUT DAY, JUNE 7 – Living up to the stereotype, Officers Phil Goff and Tommie Eisenhut were at Leawood’s Duck Donuts on June 7 to greet others stopping in to celebrate Na?onal Donut Day.
DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
FIRST DAY AT BROOKWOOD ELEMENTARY – Leawood Officers gathered on Aug. 12 to help welcome students at Brookwood Elementary School back for the first day of school.
LEAWOOD POLICE HONOR GUARDPresented the colors at Arrowhead Stadium on Oct. 13 before the Chiefs took on the Houston Texans.
NO SHAVE NOVEMBER- Many members of the department, including Chief Re(g, grew out their facial hair. More than $1,000 was collected as part of this ‘hair raising’ fundraiser.
PAWS ENFORCEMENT- SIMBA Partnering with the Great Plains SPCA, the department hosted an adoptable K9 the last Friday of each month at the sta?on. The program is designed to help socialize the dogs and let more people see them in hopes of finding new homes.
Leawood Police Department
Integrity • Teamwork • Service • Fairness • Dedication
4201 Town Center Drive, Leawood, KS 66211 4201 4201 Town Town Center Center Drive, Drive, Leawood, Leawood, KS KS 66211 66211 Emergency: 9-1-1 • Non-Emergency Dispatch: 913-642-7700 Emergency: Emergency: 9-1-1 9-1-1 • • Non-Emergency Non-Emergency Dispatch: Dispatch: 913-642-7700 913-642-7700 www.Leawood.org/Police www.Leawood.org/Police www.Leawood.org/Police