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When most people think about the police, they commonly visualize a uniformed officer who is assigned to patrol. It is the most visible unit of the Police Department. It is also the largest unit, with twenty officers (71%) assigned from a total of twenty-eight MPD employees.
These officers' primary duties are: respond to calls for service, patrol the neighborhoods and business areas for criminal activity, stop traffic violators and assist the public as needed.
In addition to routine patrol duties the officers spend many hours each year at district court, municipal court, drivers license hearings, and attending training classes. The dedicated officers of the Patrol Division provide the primary function of the police department, which is highlighted below through calls for service and self-initiated activity.
Calls for Service:
The primary duty of any police department is answering the public's calls for service. A police
officer must be ready to respond 24/7, 365 days a year. In 2008 the Merriam Police
Department received 14,185 primary and backup calls for service. This is a slight decrease from 2007. Many factors affect the calls for service numbers and these factors
may include but are not limited to, crime rate/trends, changes in our response to certain calls for
service (example: theft of gasoline, non-injury private property accidents), increases in retail
businesses, inclement weather, road construction, etc.
Self-Initiated Activity:
After calls for service, the patrol officers spend the remainder of their time on self-initiated
activity and routine patrol. Self-initiated activity includes, but is not limited to, traffic
enforcement, business checks (convenience stores, banks, bars, etc.), building checks, occupied and
unoccupied vehicle checks, pedestrian checks, park checks, motorist assists and surveillance of
problem areas for criminal activity. During the year our officers had approximately 21,953 self initiated
patrol incidents.
An Average Patrol Shift:
There are three shifts staffed by the patrol division:
Shift 1/Midnights - 11PM to 7AM
Shift 2/Days - 7AM to 3PM
Shift 3/Evenings - 3PM to 11PM
Each shift is unique because of the different activity level and type of activity specific to the shift. The day shift has more business-related calls for service and traffic-related activity during the morning rush hour. The evening shift has the traffic-related activity during the afternoon rush hour, call activity affecting businesses, and domestic violence calls. The midnight shift has alcohol-related problems, heightened patrol for business burglaries, burglaries to auto, and continued patrol of residential areas.
There are no two 8-hour patrol shifts that are the same. Officers must come to work prepared to handle many different types of calls and activities during their shift including: weather related events, traffic accidents, surveillance, responding to high stress calls (i.e., armed disturbances, felony and misdemeanor arrests, directing traffic, and being involved in community meetings.
Police Reports:
In addition to these various types of calls, they also must routinely complete reports to document the above activity. On average, over one-fourth of a patrol officers' regular shift is dedicated to writing police reports.
In 2006, we transitioned to a new record management system, I-LEADS. Police reports are either completed on computers at the station or in the patrol cars.
Patrol:
Officers not responding to calls for service or writing reports are responsible for patrolling their district to promote high visibility, proactively look for criminal activity, and developing rapport with citizens and the business community. The City of Merriam has 65 miles of streets within its 4.5 square miles. The City is divided into three districts for patrol: North, Center, and South. During 2008, patrol officers drove approximately 143,166 miles while patrolling the streets of Merriam.
Important Patrol Facts for 2008:
- Each officer will drive 34 miles per day.
- Every officer will answer on average 3.41 calls for service each day.
- Every officer will make 5.27 self initiated calls for service each day.
- Every officer will write 1 to 2 police reports each day.
- Daily each officer will make 1 to 2 traffic stops.
- The police department writes on average 28 traffic tickets per day.
- The police department makes about 3.25 arrests per day (1,116 for the year).
- June was the busiest month in which we responded to 1,264 calls.
Contact information:
Captain Tim Burnett is the commander of the patrol unit which is made up of uniformed officers. Manpower allocation and scheduling are his primary responsibilities. He is also responsible for investigating all citizen complaints on officers, internal investigations and all use of force incidents. To contact Captain Burnett, please call (913) 322-5589 or e-mail timb@merriam.org.
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