Annual Report
ANNUAL ACTIVITY REPORT
2007
CALLS FOR SERVICE 5480 (9.8% decrease, avg 449 /month)
INCIDENTS REPORTED (Index Crimes) 477 (20% increase)
TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS 146
TRAFFIC CITATIONS 620
TRAFFIC WARNINGS 1906 (75.5% of traffic contacts)
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
FOLLOW UP INVESTIGATIONS 307
CASES CLEARED 191
PENDING/INACTIVE CASEs 116
CLEARANCE RATE 62%
TOTAL # OF PERSONS ARRESTED 233 (19.5% increase)
TOTAL CRIMINAL CHARGES FILED 287
DOT SALVAGE TITLE INSPECTIONS 448 ($8,960 revenue for DeWitt)
PARKING ENFORCEMENT 653
ANIMAL CONTROL 55 animals sheltered
DEPARTMENTAL ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT
DeWitt
DeWitt is a growing and active community. DeWitt is a convenient 15-20 minute drive from the Quad Cities metro area and from Clinton. DeWitt serves as a bedroom community for those working in the region and is also an employment center with a strong industrial employment base.
Leadership
The DeWitt Police Department is under the leadership of Chief Gene Ellis who is supported by an experienced and committed supervisory staff consisting of Captain Mike Osmun, the Investigations Division Commander. Sergeant Greg Waugh, serves as the Patrol Division Supervisor and Sergeant Marc Swingle serves as the Special Operations Supervisor.
Deployment
The DeWitt Police Department serves the citizens of DeWitt and those that visit DeWitt 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This coverage is scheduled in three to four shifts per day of 8 hours in length each. Additionally, a supervisory member of the Department is on duty and/or on-call at all times. Officers utilize marked police vehicles, foot patrol, an ATV and bicycle patrol for general patrol duties and occasionally utilize unmarked vehicles for special assignments.
School Resource Officer
Officer Shia Cruciani has served as the School Resource Officer since the beginning of the 2005/2006 school year. The DeWitt Police Department partners with the Central Community School District and St. Joseph's Parochial School with the School Resource Officer serving as a liaison between the schools and law enforcement. The School Resource Officer's charge is to provide a safe learning environment for students and faculty, build rapport with students and faculty to foster information sharing, and teach crime prevention and drug resistance education courses. The School Resource Officer devotes most of their duty time to work in and around the schools striving for positive interactions with students and following up on criminal cases where a student is a suspect, victim, or witness. The School Resource Officer also serves as the Department's Juvenile Officer and assists the Juvenile Probation Officer assigned to the schools.
Bicycle Patrol
The DeWitt Police Department has 4 police bicycles in its fleet. The bicycles are used for patrol duties and special functions when weather permits. During the summer months, bike patrol is scheduled duty on a regular basis. The DeWitt Police Department has a total of 6 full-time officers certified for bicycle patrol duties.
ATV
In 2007, the DeWitt Police Department purchased the ATV that we have been using at NO COST from Barr Sales and Service for a greatly reduced price due to them going out of business. The ATV has been seen at parades, special events, the 4-H Show, football games and patrolling the 100 acres of trails at Westbrook Park. It has also been used to look for lost persons and suspects in remote areas.
Geographic Management
The DeWitt Police Department operates under a geographic responsibility based philosophy of Community Oriented Policing. Under this system, each patrol officer has a geographic area of the City, known as a "District" or "Beat" they are responsible for in addition to citywide response to calls for police service. Each officer is held accountable for activities, nuisances, problems, and crime prevention programs in their district and they are responsible for solving problems by building partnerships with community members who live or work in their district. Additionally, they act as a liaison between the citizens in their District and governmental services. When a problem is identified, the district officer is encouraged to form a Problem Oriented Policing (POP) Committee made up of themselves, their supervisor, other impacted governmental service employees and the affected members of the community to analyze the problem and come up with a solution that will eliminate it. In essence, the police recognize that we can not do it alone and only by involving the community in partnership with us can crime and the fear of crime be reduced.
Criminal Investigations
The Criminal Investigations Division of the police department has seen a rise in more sophisticated computer and identity theft crimes, which has taken a great deal of Captain Mike Osmun's time. Captain Osmun is also responsible for the Property and Evidence functions of the DeWitt Police Department and is the Internal Affairs investigator who investigates complaints lodged against departmental employees.
In 2006, the DeWitt Police Department joined the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), which is a federal initiative administered in Iowa by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Chief Ellis, Captain Osmun and Officer Shia Cruciani have attended training at no cost to the City on conducting computer crimes against children investigations. In 2007, Officer Cruciani continued to conduct training programs for all grade levels in the schools on Internet Safety. Additionally, the Department has been actively involved in numerous predator investigations.
Patrol Fleet
The DeWitt Police Department assigns each officer that lives in the city limits of DeWitt a take-home squad car. This provides better response time, a crime deterrent in the neighborhoods, an incentive for officers to reside in the city limits, better care of the car, and a longer life span for the car. We have been able to keep cars for 7 to 9 years with this program in comparison to only 2 or 3 years when cars are used 24 hours a day and driven by multiple officers.
Reserve Unit
The DeWitt Police Reserve Officer Program is a vital component of the DeWitt Police Department making it possible for the Department to meet many community needs that could not have been met without our dedicated volunteer officers. The Reserve Unit supplements the Patrol Division, assists with community events, provides security at school functions, and performs a host of other duties that maximize the quality of service the DeWitt Police Department is able to provide. The Reserve Unit has an authorized strength of 10 reserve officers. The Reserve Unit is under the direction of the Chief of Police through the Reserve Coordinator (a full-time DeWitt officer). The business of the Reserve Unit is under the guidance of the Reserve Executive Committee which consists of the Chief of Police, the Reserve Coordinator, a Reserve Captain (Chairman), a Reserve Lieutenant (Treasurer), and a Reserve Sergeant (Secretary). The 3 reserve ranking positions for the Executive Committee are voted on by the membership of the Reserve Unit every two years. Reserve Officers are required to volunteer 16 hours per month to the Reserve Officer Program, which may be a combination of patrol time, training and/or meeting time. The current reserves are:
Reserve Captain Lee Penningroth
Reserve Lieutenant Richard Dunkin
Reserve Sergeant Hollie Pitlik
Reserve Officer Stephanie Rathje
Reserve Officer Brian Billick
Reserve Officer Jamie Stearns
Reserve Officer Andrew Girod
In 2007, DeWitt Police Reserves volunteered over 1550 hours of their time assisting in the mission of the department and providing security at school and community events.
Department Awards
Officer of the Year - 2007 Officer Justin Witt has been selected by his peers for this award for the 2nd year in a row. His outstanding initiative led to the arrest of over 60 offenders and wanted persons in 2007, 58 follow-up investigations, 13 illegal drug cases and 6 OWI arrests. Officer Witt leads the department in the number of arrests and traffic contacts for the year, which exemplifies his self-motivated work ethic. Officer Witt is an asset to the DeWitt Police Department and his dedication to duty is commendable.
Meritorious Service Medal - Captain Michael Osmun has been selected to receive the DeWitt Police Department's second highest valor award. The Meritorious Service Medal is awarded in recognition of a member of the Department who performs an act to help another person(s), which places the officer's personal safety at risk. On July 26, 2007, Captain Osmun took quick and decisive action to prevent a dangerous motor vehicle pursuit that had just entered DeWitt from coming into the busy downtown area during the middle of the day. Captain Osmun's quick and brave actions prevented the potential loss of life and led to the arrest of a dangerous felon. Captain Osmun was injured during this incident but ignored the pain in order to make sure that the suspects were both in custody and all others were safe prior to tending to his injury.
Chief's Award - Richard "Dick" Kelly will be recognized by the DeWitt Police Department for the his leadership in organizing the DeWitt Citizen's Police Academy Alumni Association. Additionally, Dick has contributed substantially to the DeWitt Police Department by recruiting new Citizen Academy members. Others have assisted in these efforts; however, Dick's leadership abilities keep things progressing. The first organizational meeting of the CPA Alumni Association will be held in conjunction with the aforementioned Police Awards Reception. Dick Kelly's contributions to the DeWitt Police Department has enhanced our delivery of service to the community.
Training
The Iowa Law Enforcement Academy requires peace officers in Iowa to receive on-going annual training on law enforcement topics in addition to topics required annually by ILEA. Additionally, training is insurance against vicarious liability. In April 2007, Officer Tyler Ohnemus graduated from the 215th ILEA Basic Academy.
In 2007, DeWitt Police Officers and Reserve Officers received over 1,200 hours of continuing education. Many of the training classes were hosted at the DeWitt Police Department and several were outside of DeWitt at little or no cost to the City.
Animal Control
The DeWitt Police Department is responsible for the enforcement of animal control laws in the City Limits of DeWitt. The City of DeWitt maintains an Animal Pound where lost or abandoned animals are cared for until they are claimed by the owner, adopted or are disposed. Sergeant Greg Waugh and Sergeant Marc Swingle share the duties of the animal control officer in addition to their regular duties. In 2007, 55 animals were sheltered in the City of DeWitt Animal Control Facility.
Additionally, all cats and dogs living within the city limits are required to register and provide up to date immunization records annually. This process is coordinated by the police department's administrative assistants, and as of December 2007, there are over 780 animals registered in the City of DeWitt.
Website
The DeWitt Police Department has a presence on the World Wide Web at http://www.dewittpolice.freeservers.com/.
Communications
The DeWitt Police Department is part of the Clinton County Communications Commission, which is a multi-agency 911 Dispatch Center that serves Clinton County, the City of Clinton, the City of DeWitt and the City of Camanche. These professionals are the lifeline for the community and for the officers.
Citizen's Police Academy
In the winter of 2007, the DeWitt Police Department hosted the 5th Annual Citizen's Police Academy made up of 15 community members interested in learning more about their police department. Our mission is to Promote Understanding Through Education. Members of the Police Department learned as much from the Citizen Academy members as they learned from us, which furthered our goals of building partnerships between the Department and the Community. Graduates of Class #5 were: Traci Paulsen, Steve Fuglsang, Ron Hill, Chad Dohrmann, Robin Dohrmann, Connie Fuglsang, Tom O'Connor, Bill Bauman, Don Russell, Bob Sandry, Kevin Lake, John Jackson, Brett Sandry, Steven Martens and Mike Barnes.
Following graduation, the CPA Alumni are valuable assets to the police department by assisting with traffic control at several community events, helping out at National Night Out, and planning for future CPA Classes.
Courses and topics discussed during the Citizen's Police Academy include: Understanding differences between law enforcement agencies; Communications Center, Courthouse and Jail Tours; Use of Force; Defense Tactics; TASER demonstration; Practical Problems; Criminal Investigations/Mock Crime Scene; Traffic Stops; and Building Searches.
National Night Out
In August of 2007, DeWitt joined 10,000 other communities across the Nation and over 32 million people as part of the annual nationwide crime prevention night known as National Nigh Out. We hosted a block party in Lincoln Park. Over 650 people attended this free event providing games, prizes, food, emergency vehicle displays and a K9 demonstration. We appreciate the DeWitt residents who came out for this event which allows us to show criminals that we are united and our communication is reciprocal.
Multi-Agency Partnerships
The DeWitt Police Department believes that criminals are not aware of city, county or state boundaries; therefore, we must partner with other law enforcement agencies. Through our collaborative efforts, we make our communities safer and provide our citizens the most efficient service possible. The following illustrates the agencies the DeWitt Police Department partners:
- GAPA (Gateway Area Police Administrators) a monthly meeting of area police administrators from DeWitt, Clinton, Camanche, Fulton and Clinton County Sheriff's Office.
- Gateway HEAT (Hazardous Entry & Approach Team) a tactical response team combining Clinton, Camanche, DeWitt, Clinton County, and Fulton, Illinois.
- Clinton County Communications - a partnership between DeWitt, Clinton County, Clinton and Camanche that includes a shared dispatch/911 center and a computerized records management system.
- Mutual Aid support for Camanche, Clinton, Clinton County and Fulton, Illinois Law Enforcement Agencies.
- Quad Cities Council of Police Chiefs - Chief Ellis is a member of the Quad Cities Police Chiefs Council in order to be involved in law enforcement issues affecting our region.
- Gateway Area Investigators Meeting - a monthly meeting of all detectives and investigators in the area to include State and Federal agents. Captain Osmun represents DeWitt at these meetings.
- Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) - DeWitt is part of the this multi-agency regional task force based out of Cedar Rapids and under the guidance of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
K9 Program
In March of 2005, the DeWitt Police Department received a trained multi-purpose police service dog at no cost from the Sioux City Regional Training Center through a Federal grant. Officer Shawn Zeimet was selected as the K9 handler and went to Sioux City for complimentary training with his new partner "Slick." In 2007, the K9 Team assisted with numerous drug searches, tracked fleeing suspects and conducted searches for lost persons.
Law Enforcement Explorers
In the Fall of 2007, the DeWitt Police Department established a Law Enforcement Explorer Post #9606 through the Boy Scouts of America. Ten students between the ages of 14 to 20 became the first members of our post. "Law Enforcement Explorer posts help youth to gain insight into a variety of programs that offer hands-on career activities. For young men and women who are interested in careers in the field of law enforcement, Exploring offers experiential learning with lots of fun-filled, hands-on activities that promote the growth and development of adolescent youth."
Grants
In 2007, the DeWitt Police Department was awarded a traffic safety grant from the Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau to make our roadways safer. The grant totaled over $17,000 and provided equipment and overtime monies to enforce OWI, seat belts and other hazardous traffic violations.
Additionally, the DeWitt Police Department was awarded the following grants and donations:
$1,400 from Federal Bulletproof Vest Program.
$1,000 from ALCOA to purchase defibrillators.
$1,500 from DeWitt Noon and Nite Lions for defibrillator.
$3,000 from DeWitt Chamber of Commerce for defibrillators.
$4,050 from DeWitt Police Foundation for defibrillators, TASERS, K-9 Training Aids, L.E. Explorers, CPAAA, flat panel TV for weather monitoring, Save-a-Life Tour, Officer Trading Cards.
$2,000 from Iowa Mutual Insurance for Save-a-Life Tour.
$1,000 from DeWitt Area Community Foundation for Save-a-Life Tour.
Total Grants/Donations: $30,950.
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