FEBRUARY 24, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
guess.
“And, at any given hour, one
of those offi cers might be at the
jail with a suspect or at the hos-
pital taking statements from a
DUI crash,” Kuhns said.
The addition of one offi -
cer to each of the night shifts
would alleviate the problem for
high visibility crimes like rob-
beries, but it would also have an
impact on domestic disturbanc-
es, which also occur more fre-
quently in the late night hours.
“Domestics are calls where
you simply don’t go it alone.
You don’t go with less than two
offi cers,” Kuhns said. “Domes-
tics are some of the most vola-
tile calls police respond to, and
that’s nationwide.”
On the detective unit, a fi fth
offi cer would be tasked primar-
ily with property crime investi-
gations. Property crimes take a
backseat to persons crimes, like
sexual and child abuse and rob-
beries. Sex and child abuse cases
constitute about 60 percent of
the cases detectives are working
at any given time, said Nelson.
“We have a number of times
when good leads on property
cases come in, but we simply
don’t have the time in the day
to dedicate to them,” Nelson
said.
Even in cases where the
evidence is strong, the lack of
COPS,
continued from Page A1
within the department – one
offi cer each for traffi c, the
Community Response Unit
(CRU) and detectives, and two
for night shifts.
Keizertimes sat down with
Teague, Deputy Chief Jeff
Kuhns and Det. Chris Nelson
to talk about precisely how new
offers would change KPD ca-
pabilities.
On June 26, 2016, about 1
a.m., Keizer offi cers responded
to the report of a burglary at
Cooper’s Deli on River Road.
While working the scene of
that crime, the same suspects
are believed to have robbed
Quality Inn & Suites a little
more than a block away.
Kuhns said creating a secure
perimeter, which can be dif-
fi cult with just three offi cers
on the night shift, might have
prevented the second robbery
from happening.
KPD has a minimum of
three offi cers on duty between
10 p.m. and 7 a.m., but it would
take all three of those offi cers
to create the secure perimeter.
Teague said the need for such
action happens more frequently
than the average citizen might
ability to coordinate with other
agencies might mean connec-
tions aren’t made.
“We’ve gotten a number of
reports about organized retail
theft groups at Keizer Station.
These are groups that go up
and down I-5 hitting the shop-
ping centers. We get great vid-
eo and great evidence, but we
don’t have the time to coordi-
nate with other agencies and
put the time into those inves-
tigations,” Nelson said.
In thefts where less video-
tape is available, evidence, in-
terviews and leads grow stale,
but the persons crimes take
precedence every time, Teague
said.
“I think that’s wrong, but it’s
what’s happening,” Teague said.
To be clear, he was suggest-
ing that no crime should be
placed on the back burner, not
that property crimes should be
placed at higher priority than
persons crimes.
Coupled with certain types
of crime not receiving the at-
tention it might deserve, the
detectives themselves have be-
come more specialized since
the unit was fi rst created in the
mid-1990s.
Det. Ben Howden spends
much of his time performing
digital forensics on comput-
ers and phones, a specialty that
is facing, but it’s a constant de-
mand of the public.
“Our numbers are low, but
the public repeatedly tells us
they want more attention put
on traffi c,” Teague said. “And I
understand that every resident
wants to see an offi cer drive by
once in a while.”
Traffi c is another area that
has been helped with new
technology like fl ashing speed
limit signs, which come out
the city’s Public Works budget,
but the demand for more rarely
subsides.
“Our radar reader board is
one of the most requested ser-
vices we have,” Kuhns said.
While the chiefs and offi cers
see the gaps a lack of bodies is
creating at KPD, it should not
be read as an absolution of duty.
Even the unworked prop-
erty crimes are all entered into
a database run by the depart-
ment’s crime analyst, Cara
Steele. They remain there and
are compared with new cases
as they arrive looking for pat-
terns that might warrant more
investigation.
“We have always said we
will work with what the city
gives us. I think we serve the
people well, but there are sim-
ply things we cannot do with-
out additional offi cers,” Teague
said.
doesn’t come without signifi - problems are their niche,”
cant cost to the department in Teague said.
When offi cers rousted squat-
terms of training.
Major cases also linger over ters from a vacant home near
the unit. One detective is still Gubser Elementary School that
pursuing leads in a case involv- was becoming a hive of suspi-
ing the death of a 12-year- cious activity, CRU offi cers
old in January, another is now were the ones who spent the
managing the local efforts time observing the house and
the goings on
i nve s t i g a t i n g
there. CRU
a robbery at
offi cers also
MAPS Credit
provided sur-
Union
last
veillance in
week. Unlike
a major drug
television por-
bust last week
trayals, inves-
(See story Page
tigations don’t
A1).
proceed to ar-
Te c h n o l -
rest and trial
ogy has been
neatly within
able to close
50 minutes.
— Jeff Kuhns some of the
In the Com-
KPD Deputy Chief gap, but when
munity
Re-
extra bodies
sponse Unit,
are needed it
there are cur-
rently two investigators and a means calling on one of the
supervisor for a unit that once detectives to help – spreading
had four investigators. The the agency thinner.
“We’re trying to do every-
CRU inhabits a grey area be-
tween patrol and detectives, thing we can with less bodies,
Teague said. Patrol offi cers but we still need an additional
respond to calls that can be offi cers,” Nelson said.
The fi fth additional offi cer
quickly brought to some reso-
lution, whereas detectives are would be placed on the traffi c
in it for the long haul. CRU unit, which currently only has
works cases that involve a level one offi cer.
Teague doesn’t necessarily
of effort somewhere between
think traffi c control is the big-
the two.
“Persistent neighborhood gest problem the department
“Domestics
are calls
where you
simply don’t
go it alone.”
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