Rapid City Police Department Annual Report 2013

Rapid City Police DepartmentAnnual Report 2013

02Chief’s Message

04Year in Review

11 Our Department

12Chain of Command

14New Hires& Awards

16By the Numbers

18Budget

21Calls for Service

22Major Crimes

25Arrests

26Use of Force

28Sector Summaries

35Accidents &Enforcement

36Criminal

Investigations

38 School Liaisons

41Evidence

CONTENTS

RCPD Annual Report • 1

2 • RCPD Annual Report

CHIEF’S MESSAGEI am pleased to present the Rapid City Police Department’s 2013 annual report. In our line of work, business is non-stop. Our department provides services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year - and as you’ll see, a lot happens over the course of a year. As you read the following pages, I hope you will come to be as proud of the men and women of our department as I am. I believe you will get a feel for the many hours of hard work, the difficult and sometimes thankless job to be done, and most of all the pride and enthusi-asm shared by our employees as they serve the citizens of this great community day after day.

Providing law enforcement services is some-thing our department takes very seriously. Those services are much more than respond-ing to crimes and arresting criminals. In fact, the majority of our time is spent on tasks not directly related to crime, such as disturbances, runaway kids, neighborhood decay, and other social issues.

We strive to be a public safety agency that un-derstands the community we serve, and one that provides services in the best interest of our fellow citizens.

Community support is essential to any law enforcement agency’s mission, and our de-partment is blessed to have it. Working hand-in-hand with community members is both an honor and a privilege.

In 2013 crime rates fluctuated, but the overall trend is upward. In the first part of the year, we took action to try to curb the increasing rates of violent crime in our city. One important piece of this effort was refocusing the Street Crimes Unit on high-crime areas. We’re start-ing to see some positive change, but there’s still much work to be done. Together, I believe we can have a profound impact on crime and disorder in Rapid City, and improve the overall quality of life for all our citizens.

2013 was my last full year serving with the Rapid City Police Department, as I plan to re-

tire on May 30, 2014. It has been an honor to serve you as Police Chief, and I leave this department knowing it is in good hands.

I predict great things for the Rapid City Police Department and our city as a whole. Together we can all make it happen.

Steve AllenderChief of Police

Assistant Chief Jegerisand Lt. Olson tackle a

landscaping project while volunteering forUnited Way’s Day of Caring.

January

7: Police are called to the South Dakota Rose Inn for a male victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. The victim dies at the scene. Using video and witness statements, police quickly identify the suspect. The suspect evades law enforcement until Jan. 14, when he is caught and arrested. He is later sentenced to 45 years in jail.

10: Captain Doug Thrash retires. Lieutenant James Johns is promoted to Captain and assigned to oversee the Criminal Investigations Division.

February

4: Four RCPD officers deploy with the SD National Guard for tours in the Middle East: Officer Scott Dirkes, Officer Jeremy Stauffacher, Officer Dan Mertz, and Sergeant Wayne Asscherick.

21: Police are called to the Library for a disturbance. Sr. Officer Moore arrives first on the scene, and finds a male subject with a butcher knife outside the building. He distracts the subject until a second officer arrives. The subject advances on the second officer, attempting to stab him. Sr. Officer Moore acts heroically to save his fellow officer, shooting the suspect and stopping the at-tack. The suspect recovers, and is sentenced to 25 years in jail.


YEAR IN REVIEW

March April


9-10: Late-season blizzards wreak havoc in the Black Hills. Despite a no-travel advisory, hundreds of drivers get stuck on city streets. Officers spend most of their shifts helping stranded motorists and responding to accidents.

26: K9 teams from across South Dakota and Wyoming gather in Rapid City for a week of extensive training. The group focuses on patrol and narcotics detection exercises.

5: Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) assessors visit the department for an on-site assessment. The assessors make recommendations to the CA-LEA Board, and in July the depart-ment receives reaccreditation. The RCPD has been continuously accredited by CALEA since 1990.


May

15: Officers participate in the Law Enforcement Torch Run to support Special Olympics.

23: A 12-foot fiberglass shark is stolen from a local mini-golf course. The public attempts to help locate the missing sea creature.The shark is found a week later in a field in Box Elder, relative-ly uharmed. Police identify a suspect in the theft, but the case is never charged.

June

24-28: RCPD wins the 8th annual Guns ‘n Hoses Blood Drive, just narrowly beating the Fire Department to recruit the most donors. All to-gether, 687 donors visit Central High School to donate life-saving blood for the community.

10: Police kick off a summer pedestrian safety campaign, aimed at educating both drivers and pedestrians about the rules of the road and reducing pedestrian accidents. The campaign includes TV and radio spots, billboards, social media, street art, and heavy enforcement activity.


July August

14: The 3rd annual Cruiser Car Show & Street Fair goes off with-out a hitch downtown. 375 cars participate in the PD-sponsored car show, despite the gloomy, cold weather. The Golden Doughnut Award for Chief’s Choice goes to Al and Lois Vogele of Rapid City for their purple ‘55 Ford T-Bird.

7: Two men are arrested after an armed casino robbery and pursuit. The robbers enter the casino and brandish a hand-gun and a cane sword. They flea with cash from the busi-ness. When the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office tries to stop the speeding getaway vehicle on Radar Hill Road, the suspects begin throwing cash out the windows. They stop in a field near Box Elder, where both suspects try to run. Both are quickly caught and arrested. Nearly all of the stolen cash is recovered.

24: A huge crowd turnsout for the second annualHeroes Wear Blue Memorial5k at Memorial Park, hosted by the FraternalOrder of Police and PoliceWives Club.


September

6: Police volunteers participate in the United Way Day of Caring. Four PD teams roll up their sleeves and help out with a variety of painting and landscaping projects at four Rapid City homes.

October

4-6: Winter Storm Atlas rav-ages the area, prompting the first citywide travel ban. Officers on-duty when the storm hits are unable to get home, and many work 14+ hour shifts. Dispatch is overwhelmed with calls for stranded motorists, and emer-gency personnel spend days rescuing drivers stuck in snow-banks. Thousands of residents lose power for days, forcing emergency personnel to pri-oritize calls for service. It takes months to clean up the debris and damage from the storm.

30: The RCPD receives a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program to add four police officer positions.

22: Police investigate the death of a man found in Art Alley. The cause of death is determined to be blunt force trauma to the head. Despite several promising leads, the case remains under investigation.

15: The RCPD launches a new records management system, eliminating most paper reports. The new system allows officers to type reports in the field and streamlines the reporting process.


November December

8: Police search for a suspect who forced his way into two homes, and forced a woman to drive him to a store for money. The suspect is quickly identified and a war-rant issued. The Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team apprehends the suspect a week later in a North Rapid City apartment.

5: The department introduces community service officers, new positions designed to assist patrol officers with non-violent crimes. The new officers help alleviate the workload for patrol and improve customer service for the public.

14: Team Blue takes the Golden Broom in the 7th annual broom-ball game against the Fire Department. That makes a clean sweep for the PD in all police vs. fire events in 2013.

2

CHAIN OF COMMAND

2013 CALEA assessors with the RCPD accreditation team during the on-site

assessment.


ABOUT RCPD

Members of the Rapid City Police Depart-ment are committed to excellence in public safety and are dedicated to the people, tradi-tions and diversity of our city. We will provide community-enhancing services, foster a positive relationship with the community and develop our agency and officers with an em-phasis on professionalism, integrity and ser-vice.

OUR CORE VALUESService: Above and Beyond the CallWe will utilize our resources in an effective, efficient manner to achieve a safe environment for residents and visitors.

Community: Personal and Professional CommitmentWe will commit to the community and work together to achieve a safe and healthy quality of life.

Integrity: Begins at HomeWe will prepare and equip our members through training, education, and both personal and professional development, to be accountable to the citizens they serve and to make sound, ethical decisions.

OUR MISSION OUR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Respond to calls for service by citizens of the City.

• Resolve problems, concerns, and issues of the citizens of the City as they relate to matters of law enforcement and qual-ity of life.

• Prevent crime and delinquency through comprehensive 24-hour police patrol.

• Respond to requests for assistance by County and State agencies.

• Maintain public order and safety through the arrest of violators of the law.

• Maintain orderly traffic flow and resolve traffic violations.

• Educate the public in prevention and the requirements of and conformance with the law.

• Maintain records and reports of all activities of the agency.• Cooperate with other agencies in the

analysis of data to plan and coordinate future crime prevention and public safety activities.

We have been continuously accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law En-forcement Agencies (CALEA) since 1990, and received our seventh reaccreditation award in 2013.

Accredited status represents a significant achievement, recognizing that an institution meets or exceeds general expectations of quality in the field. Accreditation acknowledg-es the use of policies that are both conceptu-ally sound and operationally effective.

To earn reaccreditation, we participated in an on-site assessment in March 2013, to verify that our department meets the professional standards administered by CALEA, encom-passing policy and procedures, administra-tion, operations, and support services.

Accredited status is granted for a three-year period, during which time the department must submit annual reports attesting to con-tinued compliance with CALEA standards. Our next on-site assessment will take place in 2016.

ACCREDITATION


CHAIN OF COMMAND

James JohnsCaptainCriminal Investigations Division

Dan RudCaptainField Services Division

Steve AllenderChief of Police

Karl JegerisAssistant Chief of PoliceSupport Services Division

Our Community Service Officers debuted in November,

assisting patrol with non-emergency calls for service.

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

(7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12)

(13) (14) (15) (16) (17)

(1) Officer James Halterman(2) Officer Jacob Kelley(3) Officer Garrett Loen(4) Officer Matthew Macrander(5) Officer Aaron Odegaard(6) Officer John Isakson(7) Officer Lucas Lang(8) Officer Anthony Meirose(9) Officer Sonny Melanson

(10) Officer Robert Neisen(11) Officer Joshua Russell(12) Officer Michael Wollman(13) Community Service Officer Corey Shumacher(14) Community Service Officer Anthony Picket Pin(15) Forensic Chemist Brendan Matthew(16) Forensic Examiner Dan Gillaspie(17) Media Specialist Tim Appel


NEW HIRES

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

(7) (8) (9) (10)

(1) Assistant Chief Karl Jegeris - FBI National Academy Graduate(2) Lieutenant Tom Senesac - ESGR Patriotic Employer Award(3) Sergeant Wayne Asscherick - RCPD Instructor of the Year Award(4) Senior Officer Jerry Moore - Life Saving Medal(5) Officer Eric Dwyer - Life Saving Medal(6) Officer Dan Anderson - Optimist Club Respect for Law Award(7) Officer Brian Pitts - Behavior Management Systems Community Service Award(8) Officer John Peebles - MADD Award(9) Officer Chris Wendt: LET Academy Bill Davis Top Gun Award, Coler-Williams Memorial Award(10) Officer Joshua Russell: LET Academy Coler-Williams Memorial Award


AWARDS


YEAR IN NUMBERSCalls for service

111,748Full-time employees Sworn officers

153 119

Jaywalking citations Citations for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk

68 633Facebook followers

12,366COPS hiring grant to hire additional officers

$500,000Anonymous crime tips sent via text & web

268


Vehicle pursuits

48Officers injured in vehicle pursuits

0Suspects injured in vehicle pursuits

4Civilians injured in vehicle pursuits

0Total arrests

7,634DUI arrests

892Donors at Guns ‘n Hoses

687

Drug arrests

1,766K9 demonstrations

30Posts on chiefsview.com

13


BUDGET

Total RCPD Budget: $12,064,107

Total City Budget: $137,809,445

RCPD Share City Budget: 8.7%

Salary & Wages: $8,015,805

Benefits: $2,374,675

Insurance: $185,100

Professional Services: $175,000

Publications: $3,000

Rentals: $16,000

Repairs & Maintenance: $215,495

Supplies & Materials: $576,032

Travel & Training: $60,000

Utilities: $141,000

Miscellaneous: $149,000

Capital Outlay: $120,000

Other: $3,000

Other Program Support: $30,000

2

Students at the Wilson Elementary School car

wash happily made one of our patrol cars shine.

2

CALLS FOR SERVICE

K9 Jackson says hello during a demonstration at

Main Street Square (with his handler, Officer Black).


Calls for Service 2012 2013911 Hang up 4,028 4,646Accident 4,295 4,637Alarm 1,872 1,927Assault 2,543 2,410Burglary 2,221 1,446Child Abuse/Neglect 870 874Disturbance 5,641 4,975Destruction of Private Property 1,731 1,392Fight 767 658Intoxicated Driver 1,310 1,150Intoxicated Subject 2,391 2,401Motorist Assist 868 1,293Noise Disturbance 1,005 777Panhandling 194 250Lost/Found Property 1,244 1,153Robbery 61 55Runaway 1,250 1,151Shoplifting 708 487Stabbing 32 38Suspicious Activity 3,483 3,256Stolen Vehicle 402 372Theft 3,203 3,458Weapons 488 512

Common Call Types*

*Initial call types as entered by dispatch.

CALLS FOR SERVICE

40,991Officer-initiated calls for service:

70,987Citizen-initiated calls for service:

112,026Total calls for service:


MAJOR CRIMES

*2013 numbers are preliminary, awaiting verification from the FBI.All numbers above are based on actual crime reports filed, not calls for service.

Murder

Rape

Robbery

AggAssault

Burglary

Theft

StolenVehicles

Arson

3

5

119102

5256

207

556

567

2,0502,885

181237

715

2013*

2012

2

Runners take off in the second annual Heroes Wear Blue 5k in Memorial Park.

22

Assistant Chief Jegeris presents Al & Lois Vogele with the Golden Doughnut

Award at the Cruiser Car Show.

ARRESTS


2013

2012

AdultArrests

JuvenileArrests

SealedArrests

1,2871,727

30165

6,3175,990

7,882Total arrests 2012:

7,634Total arrests 2013:

RCPD officers are tasked with enforcing the law and protecting the citizens of Rapid City. Occasionally, when a subject is non-compliant, an officer will have to use force to ensure the safety of the subject, the officer, or the public.

According to RCPD policy, officers shall use only the force that is reasonably necessary to overcome resistance from a person being taken into custody, to stop an assault of a third person, in self-defense, or as reasonable and necessary to perform their police functions.

The officer’s level of force is dependent upon the level of resistance from the subject. In 2013, police used force (anything greater than verbal direction) in 560 separate incidents.

131Incidents where officers

displayed a Taser:


fired a Taser:

200Incidents where officers displayed a duty pistol:


fired a duty pistol:

60Incidents with

K9 display:

3Incidents with

K9 bite:

USE OF FORCE


COMMUNITY

200Incidents where officers displayed a duty pistol:


fired a duty pistol:

2

Lt. Olson and volunteers prep for planting season

and rebuild garden boxes as part of the Lemmon Avenue

Community Garden.


SECTOR SUMMARY - NORTHCommunity Involvement

The College Park Block Club, NeighborWorks, and RCPD have established a great partner-ship. Together we participated in the city-wide clean up day and planted and harvested the community garden. This year we also gained another exciting event. Leadership Rapid City helped organize Neighbor Days, a fun commu-nity event with jump castles for the children, tiny train rides, food and games. The police and fire departments both brought vehicles and equipment for people to view and interact. The event brought hundreds of residents from the area to eat and socialize. Our next goal is to establish a park at the corner of Monroe St. and Lemmon Ave, which used to be called Wil-low Park.

Paint the Town also helped a resident in the north sector this year. NeighborWorks and volunteers from Rapid City came together to give an elderly resident’s home a fresh coat of paint. It was a huge success and she was very grateful. I appreciate those officers and aux-iliary members from the Rapid City Police De-partment who volunteered their time to help.

Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Watch contin-ues to have clean-up days and meetings in

the area. The Rapid City Police and Roosevelt Park group, with the help of the Police Auxil-iary, completed two clean-ups of the creek in 2013 from Omaha Bridge to the Maple Ave. Bridge. The area continues to look nice as it is regularly maintained.

Code Enforcement Issues

Code enforcement continues to support north sector efforts to deal with substandard hous-ing. Thanks to the cooperative efforts of code enforcement, the city attorney’s office, and po-lice, many residences have been abated and cleaned up. In 2013 the city attorney worked with us to add pressue on landlords, by citing and bringing those not in compliance to court.

Street Crimes Unit

The Street Crimes Unit spent a majority of their time in the North Sector in 2013. The Street Crimes Unit is a specialized unit focusing on violent crimes and neighborhood problems. Early in 2013, statistical analysis showed seri-ous issues with violent crime in a few areas in North Rapid. The SCU was originally focused on the downtown area, but in 2013 the group expanded and branched out to tackle violent crime in the area. This continues into 2014.

Lt. John Olson


SECTOR SUMMARY - CENTRAL

Downtown Security

The central sector had some challenges in public safety in 2013. Major incidents such as an officer-involved shooting outside the library and an unsolved homicide in Art Alley resulted in an unsettled sense of security in downtown. In response, the RCPD shifted resources to provide safety information and an enhanced police presence in the area. Police offered training to library staff, and collaborated with the library to make security recommendations that have improved safety for both the public and employees. Additional police resources have been added to the downtown region to provide greater public safety services.

Pedestrian Safety

A pedestrian safety campaign kicked off in 2013 to increase awareness of pedestrian laws and reduce car/pedestrian accidents. Enhanced enforcement efforts were a compo-nent to the campaign. Officers set up multiple saturation patrols and wrote hundreds of cita-tions to motorists failing to yield to pedestri-

ans. Many of the targeted areas included the downtown and parks in the central sector. The RCPD hopes that, over time, the culture in Rapid City will change and drivers will remem-ber to yield to pedestrians, and pedestrians will use crosswalks appropriately. The end goal is reduce the number of pedestrians injured by vehicles, and we hope to see positive change in the near future.

Special Events

A record number of people visited the down-town area last year, as events in the area have become more numerous and more pop-ular. Main Street Square drew large crowds throughout the summer and into the early win-ter months. Summer Nights expanded their footprint to a larger geographic area to ac-commodate event goers in their sixth year of bringing entertainment to the heart of Rapid City. Overall, police saw few criminal issues at these events, and the downtown area contin-ues to be a safe place for family-friendly enter-tainment.

Lt. Peter Ragnone


SECTOR SUMMARY - SOUTH

School Traffic Enforcement

Traffic enforcement around the schools on the south side of Rapid City is a top priority. A number of traffic saturations were held at these schools to address speeding, crosswalk violations, parking violations and other general traffic violations. East Middle School, Grand-view Elementary and Robbinsdale Elementary were the focus of many of these saturations. Officers issued numerous citations and writ-ten warnings to increase driver awareness and child safety. Although progress has been made, the citizens of Rapid City can expect a continued emphasis of traffic enforcement around the schools.

Code Enforcement Partnership

The Rapid City Police Department works close-ly with the Code Enforcement Office to address nuisance and junk properties on the south side of Rapid City. These properties are not only an eyesore but they contribute to a lower quality of life for the neighbors and they can in-crease crime rates in the neighborhood. Some of the code enforcement violations that were addressed included junk vehicles parked on the roadway or in front yards, miscellaneous

garbage on the property, and residents found to be living in campers on the properties. In all cases, several attempts were made to try to get the property owners to clean up. If they refused, then the property was cleaned by the city at the homeowners’ expense.

Property Manager Cooperation

The property managers at various housing and apartment complexes on the south side of Rapid City are continually striving to make their properties safe and desirable places to live. One of the ways they accomplish this is through cooperation and communication with the Rapid City Police Department. The prop-erty managers are able to view a crime log on the Rapid City Police Department website in order to stay informed about what is happen-ing on their properties. Additional information is provided to the managers regarding crimi-nal activity and many times this information is used to evict problem tenants. In addition, the increased communication with the managers helps the police to be more informed about crime problems in these neighborhoods, al-lowing us to take a more proactive approach to issues.

Lt. Mark Eisenbraun

2

MAJOR CRIMES

Parking enforcement officers hit the streets in new

uniforms, which are better suited for working in all

weather conditions.


TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS & ENFORCEMENT

Traffic citations 6,069Traffic warnings 4,348Total 10,417

Traffic Accidents

Traffic Violation Citations & Warnings 35,506Parking tickets issued in 2012

33,798Parking tickets issued 2013

Failure to yield 728Following too close 221Driving too fast for road conditions 198Distracted driving 144Disregarding traffic signs or signals 107Improper turn 84Hitting a wild animal 68Drinking 58Running off the road 56Improper backing 53Failure to keep in proper lane 50Improper lane change 45

Top Contributing Factors in Rapid City-Area Accidents

Injury accidents 499Other accidents 1,870Total 2,369


CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS

Property crimes cases 3,000Crimes against persons 1,082Total cases assigned to investigators 4,082

Businesses checked 147Businesses failed 7

Drug-related investigations 143Drug-related search warrants executed 65Currency & property seized $665,982Pounds marijuana seized 430Pounds methamphetamine seized 58Firearms seized 68One-pot meth labs discovered 3Drug arrests 1,093

Detectives worked an extensive caseload in 2013, including three murder investigations.

The Criminal Investigations Division also investigates cases in conjuction with these task forces:

• Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, led by the South Dakota Division of Criminal

Investigation• Domestic Violence Team, partnering with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office• Sexual Assault Team, partnering with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office• Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team, led by the

South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation

CID staff also maintains the Sex Offender Registry, conducts license compliance checks, and provides fingerprinting services.

Criminal Investigations Cases

Alcohol Compliance Checks

Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team

2

Captain Johns donates blood at the 8th annual

Guns ‘n Hoses Blood Drive.

SCHOOL LIAISON OFFICERS

(1) Central High School Liaison Officer Matt Hower www.facebook.com/OfficerHower

(2) Central High School Liaison Officer Tim Doyle www.facebook.com/OfficerDoyle

(3) Rapid City High School Liaison Officer Jeff Thayer www.facebook.com/OfficerThayer

(4) North Middle School Liaison Officer Tessa Mitchell www.facebook.com/OfficerMitchell

(5) West Middle School Liaison Officer Dan Anderson www.facebook.com/OfcAnderson

(6) South Middle School Liaison Officer Ryan Phillips www.facebook.com/OfficerRPhillips

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)


37

Police and Fire broomball teams after their friendly

competition for Toys for Tots at Main Street Square.

Officer Sparks helps lead the charge in the Law

Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics.


EVIDENCEThe Forensic Lab is managed by the Rapid City Police Department, and offers services to the RCPD, Pennington County Sheriff’s Of-fice, and surrounding law enforcement agencies. It is one of only two forensic labs in South Dakota.

In 2013 the Evidence section moved into a brand-new state-of-the-art building at 125 1st Street. The Evidence section had outgrown the old building, and the new facility provides additional space and flexibility to serve both law enforcement and the public.

2,605Drug analyses performed in 2012

3,143Drug analyses performed in 2013Blood alcohol analyses performed 2,719

Pieces of property stored in the Evidence building 22,567Pounds of prescription drugs collected for disposal 598Latent fingerprints analyzed 553Forensic videos analyzed 180Photos downloaded to evidence 130,057

Members of the Rapid City/Pennington County Special

Response Team train for crisis situations.

www.rapidcitypolice.org

Rapid City Police Department Annual Report 2013

Documents

Transcript of Rapid City Police Department Annual Report 2013