AUGUST 5, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
BADGE,
continued from Page A1
I've talked with Chief (John)
Teague about it and we're in
agreement on that issue.
Are there any perceived
tensions between KPD and
residents of the city?
Keizer is different because
we don't have a large black
community, but even the
ones who have moved here
from other areas we fi nd are
having a better relationship
with our police force – even
when they've had diffi cult
relationships with police in
other cities.
We try to engage them
in conversations and they'll
often say that policing here is
different than the areas which
they came from. They tell us
we're fi ne.
They may have had some
negative contacts, but we try
hard to give them a more
positive interaction.
For anyone, if an arrest has
to be made, we want that to
be as positive an experience as
we can make it. Chief Teague
has been big on moving the
department away from jail and
punishment to looking at the
underlying issues and dealing
with those to curb the arrests.
There has been a big
push for problem-oriented
policing solutions and
community engagement
at KPD in recent years,
are members of the union
seeing changes in public
response to their presence
as a result of these policies?
I think it's a work in
progress. For the people we've
been able to impact positively,
and their neighborhoods, we
hear glowing reviews. It might
be a drug house or people
squatting in foreclosures and
solving those issues impacts a
lot of people in small areas of
the city.
That's also been a result of
restructuring the department.
While the patrol offi cers might
be going from call to call to call,
members of the Community
Response Unit can start
looking into problem spots
that we've received multiple
calls about over several shifts.
We have the time to sit
and watch what's happening
at a problem house, and then
we can bring in our code
enforcement offi cer to work
on the issues from his angle.
It can be frustrating for
us, too, when it takes a lot of
time to bring some sort of
resolution to those problems
because we try to treat all of
them as if they were in our own
neighborhood. We wouldn't
want our kids growing up
around that and we don't want
other kids growing up around
that either.
You
were
involved
with Blast Camp, a camp
designed to break down
barriers
between
law
enforcement and youth,
a few weeks ago. Do
you think that offi cers
are benefi tting from the
increased contact made
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possible through events like
that?
To some degree, but there's
only so much we can do
in a three-hour contact for
three days in a year. Parental
infl uences are huge on the
kids in the community. If there
is negative thoughts coming
from the parents, it probably
doesn't matter enough in the
long run.
Some of the kids come in
the fi rst day and they are a
little standoffi sh, but then they
start to see that we're just there
with them having fun. Those
contacts help, but there's many
more times when we're in a
store in uniform and someone
leans over to a kid and tells
them, “You be good, or I'm
going to make them take you
away.”
That's not what we're here
for. I've looked right at parents
and told them, “I'd sooner take
you away than that kid. He's
awesome.”
All they are doing is
confusing them. Kids are told
repeatedly that if they need
help to go to the police, but
then they hear that same police
offi cer can take them away.
Why would that kid run to a
police offi cer after that?
Blast Camp, and camps
like that, give us a chance to
show different side of police
personalities. We just need
some of the parental infl uence
to change to coincide with
that.
When complaints arise
about offi cers, what do
they typically involve?
A lot of complaints are
handled at the supervisor level,
but most often a lot of the
complaints could be settled
with the use of video, if we
can fi nd a resolution to what
becomes public record.
In one case, we had a
complaint of an offi cer
slamming his hand on the top
of someone's car, but we were
able to go back and look at
the video and see he was really
just tapping it saying they were
good to go.
We more frequently run
into issues with callers thinking
that our patrol offi cers aren't
taking enough time with
them on their call. They
might also perceive an offi cer
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as being rude, but they want
to see an offi cer as personally
invested in their issue. That's
understandable, but our job is
collecting facts.
It's not that offi cers are
not empathetic, but it can be
perceived as rude. If they're
three calls pending and a major
one comes in, the offi cer
probably has to go and isn't
going to have time to explain.
What are the most
frequent compliments you
hear from Keizer residents
and/or other individuals
along the judicial system
chain?
One of the things we take
some pride in is the people
who we pull over in the middle
of the night and they end up
getting into arguments in the
back of the squad car. We end
up with people with warrants,
dope or stolen property who
are upset that someone decided
to drive through Keizer and
now they're getting arrested.
For that being the reputation
of the town we live in, it's a
beautiful thing.
We also hear from a lot of
residents that they think we
are everywhere. We only have
three offi cers on patrol at any
one time in a town of 37,000.
That's not a great ratio, but if
people think we're everywhere,
we're happy that they feel our
presence like that.
I've heard a lot of
compliments of our detectives
for their professionalism and
thoroughness and great report
writing. But I've also heard
from a lot of residents who
feel as though we are very
thorough.
What is the union’s
stance on the need for
extra offi cers at KPD?
We absolutely need them.
We have a certain level of
service that is expected, but
three offi cers are expected to
handle the workload of four
or fi ve offi cers right now. It
means more stress and a larger
workload and they can't take
as much time with individual
calls.
Eventually, as the town
continues to grow, that service
level is going to suffer. If we
go to a completely reactive
department,
the
public
perception is going to falter.
We also have a level of
service that we want to
provide, but change is coming
if we can't hire more offi cers.
We don't want to get to the
point where we can't respond
to certain calls.
In Salem, if you have a
fender bender, the police aren't
going to respond. We try to
respond to every single one
of those types of incidents in
Keizer.
It's also going to be harder
to recruit offi cers if the
current commotion around
law enforcement continues. If
you're a well-educated person
and you see what offi cers are
going through in the media,
what is the likelihood you're
going to want to be part of
that?
How would additional
offi cers bolster what the
force as a whole is able to
accomplish?
It's harder to be proactive
when you're running from
call to call to call. When you
have the ability to be proactive,
you get to know individual
streets and know which cars
are supposed to be there and
which ones aren't, things stand
out.
Some people think that's a
form of harassment, but more
offi cers give us the ability
to be proactive because we
don't want to be reactive.
Reacting means something's
gone wrong. Proactive means
the bad guys get the message
that what they're doing isn't
welcome in this city.
KT on vacation
James and Carly Baker
recently returned from a
Mediterranean cruise that
started in Athens, Greece and
ended in Barcelona, Spain.
Joining the Bakers were: Dan
& Debbie Davenport, Chris
& Stephanie Eakin, Rick &
Dian McDonald, Dan & Kelly
Hokanson, Brett & Sheila
Larson, Clif & Darlene Rose,
Bob & Tracy Rhoades, Ron
& Denise Downs, Ed & Julie
Johnson, Jennifer Martin,
Kristie Lawrence, Krissy
Devane, Bridget Larson-Hill,
Myrna Haxby, Rich Hickam.
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