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Detective vacancy impacts city
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| Keokuk patrol officer Scott Kindig, right, discusses the day’s work with Capt. Kevin Church. Three of the four shifts have two patrol officers, a sergeant and a captain. Swing shift has three patrol officers, a sergeant and a captain. All of the men patrol the streets during their eight-hour shift. With the lack of detectives in the department since the end of December 2006, officers also have been conducting the city’s criminal investigations. |
By Cindy Iutzi /Gate City Staff Writer
Since the beginning of the year, the Keokuk Police Department has been operating without a detective on the force.
“I think it's a big problem,” said Lee County Attorney Mike Short. “It's something unheard of in a city this size.”
Short said he needs the assistance of detectives to successfully prosecute criminal cases.
“They need to know what I need, not chase down unimportant things, and they need to be a good witness because they spend a lot of time in court,” he said.
When Chief R.L. Dobson, Assistant Chief Gary Ramaker, Patrolman Lennie Etter and Sgt. Ron Leffler retired in 2005 followed by the resignations of Patrolman Kevin Londrie and Capt. Scott Brammer in 2006, the result was a shortage of manpower and experience.
Then city council members were reluctant to replace all of the retired officers because of budget problems. But when Londrie and Brammer left, the police department was stretched thin with 21 officers from the top down - an historic low. Covering the streets adequately became the focus.
At that point, the department had one detective, Dustin Briscoe, down from three. Hinton was promoted from detective to administrative captain, and Capt. Kevin Church transferred out of the investigative unit to serve as shift captain.
Briscoe unexpectedly resigned in December 2006 to take a job as a parole-probation officer in Keokuk. Since then, Crew has been working to get the number of police officers up to strength so he can promote a man and train him to be a detective.
However, the hiring process is lengthy; it takes about a year to put a sworn officer on the street, Crew said.
Candidates must take and pass a battery of tests, including a polygraph. Once hired, they complete a 13-week stint at the police academy and a 30-to 90-day period of on-the-job training and evaluation in Keokuk.
Crew hired Michael Bunn and Marvin Wagle in 2006 to replace patrol officer Jason Dunagan, who left in 2005, and Londrie. Bunn and Wagle are both on the job but still on probation for one year from their date of hire.
Crew hired Zeth Baum and Steven Dray this year to replace the vacancies left by Brammer and Briscoe. Baum and Dray started their training at the police academy last week and will graduate in July.
Testing for the rank of detective has already occurred, but Crew will not be able promote anyone to that position until Baum and Dray are back and on the street.
“We had plans to put another detective there before Dustin left,” Crew said, “but his leaving was unexpected.”
Briscoe, like Brammer and Londrie, left for a combination of reasons: more money and opportunities for advancement, having a different life and/or being burned out, Crew said.
City council member Mike O'Connor, who is chair of the Police Department Subcommittee, acknowledges that the city's patrol officers are capable of performing investigations but believes continuity in a case is important. He supports filling a detective position and eventually having two.
“We need to fill these positions,” O'Connor said. “It's not because we don't want to.”
He said a recent survey of wages in police departments in cities like Keokuk gave the council a better insight into a competitive wage scale.
In the meantime, Short is prosecuting cases based on investigations conducted by patrol officers during their shifts.
Short is concerned about the progress of several large cases, such as a large theft of nickel valued at $30,000-$35,000 from Steel Castings.
“We're working with the uniforms and issuing a lot of subpoenas,” Short said. “This case hasn't gotten as far along as I would have liked it to.
“And the Ronnie Durand Internet fraud case, (Sgt.) Scott Rager stepped up and did a good job finishing that case. We've got a series of burglaries, multi-state, multi-county and multi-jurisdictional. (Administrative Capt.) Dave Hinton stepped out of his duties to follow up on this one, but this is a lot of burglaries.
“Two people, Jason Tripp and Amber Meyers, are being held, but there are charges everywhere. I believe they've been charged in other counties, Des Moines, Hancock and Lee.”
Short said he is using the Lee County sheriff's investigator, Stacey Weber, to help with some of the pending investigations.
He would prefer to have three detectives working in Keokuk - two during the day and one on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift.
Short described the ideal detective as good at interviewing and interrogation, which are two different skills, Short said. Also, a detective must be able to write reports that “tell me what the witnesses said.”
“It's hard to take a rookie officer and make a detective out of him. There are a lot of people skills you have to develop along the way and different interview skills ... I don't mind if officers say, ‘What do I need to do? How do I approach it?' I prefer it. They know what's going on out there, and my experience is the law. I need to tell them how to go about getting what I need.”
After a crime occurs, Short asks detectives to “get me this, interview that person, tell me what happened. But with the uniforms, when someone reports a burglary, they take what ever they find and that's that. No one is looking at it, comparing it with others to see who's out there at night,” he said.
Half of the reports he sees say, “I was on this call when another one came in.”
“It's not a good thing,” Crew said. “An investigator needs the time to concentrate on a case and not be pulled off to handle a fight or a domestic call. It's like putting a bookmark in a book. You can get back to it, but it's a lot slower process.
“I've been asked how other departments do it without a full-time detective. My answer is, you don't. You don't investigate things as thoroughly as they should be.
“I can't remember a time when Keokuk hasn't had investigators - three, two or even one. We need someone who is trained for it, not just a body. There are very few natural detectives and some people just don't want to take the time to do what they have to do.”
When the time comes for Crew to select a detective from his candidates, the promotion will result in taking an officer from the street, creating another vacancy. Crew is hoping to hire one more officer in August and eventually add another detective.
“We're like a football team that lost all its seniors,” he said. “We're in the rebuilding mode.
“We've hired good officers and these two (Baum and Dray) will be good officers. But we have a lot of training to do. The future in our department lies in our young personnel, and we are a young department. The majority of officers has less than five years on the department.”
“I think it's a big problem,” said Lee County Attorney Mike Short. “It's something unheard of in a city this size.”
Short said he needs the assistance of detectives to successfully prosecute criminal cases.
“They need to know what I need, not chase down unimportant things, and they need to be a good witness because they spend a lot of time in court,” he said.
When Chief R.L. Dobson, Assistant Chief Gary Ramaker, Patrolman Lennie Etter and Sgt. Ron Leffler retired in 2005 followed by the resignations of Patrolman Kevin Londrie and Capt. Scott Brammer in 2006, the result was a shortage of manpower and experience.
Then city council members were reluctant to replace all of the retired officers because of budget problems. But when Londrie and Brammer left, the police department was stretched thin with 21 officers from the top down - an historic low. Covering the streets adequately became the focus.
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Briscoe unexpectedly resigned in December 2006 to take a job as a parole-probation officer in Keokuk. Since then, Crew has been working to get the number of police officers up to strength so he can promote a man and train him to be a detective.
However, the hiring process is lengthy; it takes about a year to put a sworn officer on the street, Crew said.
Candidates must take and pass a battery of tests, including a polygraph. Once hired, they complete a 13-week stint at the police academy and a 30-to 90-day period of on-the-job training and evaluation in Keokuk.
Crew hired Michael Bunn and Marvin Wagle in 2006 to replace patrol officer Jason Dunagan, who left in 2005, and Londrie. Bunn and Wagle are both on the job but still on probation for one year from their date of hire.
Crew hired Zeth Baum and Steven Dray this year to replace the vacancies left by Brammer and Briscoe. Baum and Dray started their training at the police academy last week and will graduate in July.
Testing for the rank of detective has already occurred, but Crew will not be able promote anyone to that position until Baum and Dray are back and on the street.
“We had plans to put another detective there before Dustin left,” Crew said, “but his leaving was unexpected.”
Briscoe, like Brammer and Londrie, left for a combination of reasons: more money and opportunities for advancement, having a different life and/or being burned out, Crew said.
City council member Mike O'Connor, who is chair of the Police Department Subcommittee, acknowledges that the city's patrol officers are capable of performing investigations but believes continuity in a case is important. He supports filling a detective position and eventually having two.
“We need to fill these positions,” O'Connor said. “It's not because we don't want to.”
He said a recent survey of wages in police departments in cities like Keokuk gave the council a better insight into a competitive wage scale.
In the meantime, Short is prosecuting cases based on investigations conducted by patrol officers during their shifts.
Short is concerned about the progress of several large cases, such as a large theft of nickel valued at $30,000-$35,000 from Steel Castings.
“We're working with the uniforms and issuing a lot of subpoenas,” Short said. “This case hasn't gotten as far along as I would have liked it to.
“And the Ronnie Durand Internet fraud case, (Sgt.) Scott Rager stepped up and did a good job finishing that case. We've got a series of burglaries, multi-state, multi-county and multi-jurisdictional. (Administrative Capt.) Dave Hinton stepped out of his duties to follow up on this one, but this is a lot of burglaries.
“Two people, Jason Tripp and Amber Meyers, are being held, but there are charges everywhere. I believe they've been charged in other counties, Des Moines, Hancock and Lee.”
Short said he is using the Lee County sheriff's investigator, Stacey Weber, to help with some of the pending investigations.
He would prefer to have three detectives working in Keokuk - two during the day and one on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift.
Short described the ideal detective as good at interviewing and interrogation, which are two different skills, Short said. Also, a detective must be able to write reports that “tell me what the witnesses said.”
“It's hard to take a rookie officer and make a detective out of him. There are a lot of people skills you have to develop along the way and different interview skills ... I don't mind if officers say, ‘What do I need to do? How do I approach it?' I prefer it. They know what's going on out there, and my experience is the law. I need to tell them how to go about getting what I need.”
After a crime occurs, Short asks detectives to “get me this, interview that person, tell me what happened. But with the uniforms, when someone reports a burglary, they take what ever they find and that's that. No one is looking at it, comparing it with others to see who's out there at night,” he said.
Half of the reports he sees say, “I was on this call when another one came in.”
“It's not a good thing,” Crew said. “An investigator needs the time to concentrate on a case and not be pulled off to handle a fight or a domestic call. It's like putting a bookmark in a book. You can get back to it, but it's a lot slower process.
“I've been asked how other departments do it without a full-time detective. My answer is, you don't. You don't investigate things as thoroughly as they should be.
“I can't remember a time when Keokuk hasn't had investigators - three, two or even one. We need someone who is trained for it, not just a body. There are very few natural detectives and some people just don't want to take the time to do what they have to do.”
When the time comes for Crew to select a detective from his candidates, the promotion will result in taking an officer from the street, creating another vacancy. Crew is hoping to hire one more officer in August and eventually add another detective.
“We're like a football team that lost all its seniors,” he said. “We're in the rebuilding mode.
“We've hired good officers and these two (Baum and Dray) will be good officers. But we have a lot of training to do. The future in our department lies in our young personnel, and we are a young department. The majority of officers has less than five years on the department.”
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