Detective Nancy Willis spoke about Domestic Violence. Raytown PD has 7 detectives. Of the seven only 2 are assigned to specific tasks. Detective Clear is assigned to Juvenile cases (he presented last week) and Detective Willis is assigned to Domestic Violence cases.
Domestic Violence is defined as behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other. Partners may be married or not married; heterosexual, gay, or lesbian; living together, separated or dating. ANYONE CAN BE A VICTIM!
Examples of abuse include:
Violence can be criminal and includes physical assault (hitting, pushing, shoving, etc.), sexual abuse (unwanted or forced sexual activity), and stalking. Although emotional, psychological and financial abuse are not criminal behaviors, they are forms of abuse and can lead to criminal violence.
- name-calling or put downs
- keeping a partner from contacting their family or friends
- withholding money
- stopping a partner from getting or keeping a job
- actual or threatened physical harm
- sexual assault
- stalking
- intimidation
Raytown PD always dispatchers 2 officers to DV calls. These can be some of the most dangerous calls for officers and all involved. A General Order Summons or Felony warrant will be issued depending n the severity of injuries. Generally a broken bone is severe enough to warrant the felony charge.
Robin Slater from Hope House presented. Hope House has 2 metro area locations. For safety of those helped at Hope House, the locations will not be disclosed. Hope House has provided 30 years of Hope! Services provided by Hope House include: Court advocates (to assist with orders of protection and other legal matters), support groups, counseling services, safe shelter. There are currently no shelters for men but Hope House will help find resources for men affected by domestic violence in need of a safe place to stay. Approximately 10,000 people are helped annually by Hope House through the shelter and the outreach programs. Their shelters are full every night. Great Job Hope House! Unfortunately this is a needed service, but it is good to know there is help! If you or someone you know needs help you can call 816-461-HOPE.
In 50% or more cases of DV, children are in the home which means they can be affected too. On average an individual will be in and out of a shelter 7 times before permanently leaving the violent home. The Cycle of Violence includes: 1) Walking on egg shells (ie trying to make it work); 2) Battery phase; 3) Honeymoon phase (denial that it will keep happening, honey I'm sorry, it won't happen again phase). Addiction is often a contributor to DV. The individual must be clean in order to stay in a shelter at Hope House. If they are not clean of drugs/alcohol Hope House will help with resources other than shelter there. The most dangerous time for a victim of DV is when they make the decision to leave the situation. That is when resources such as Hope House and Rose Brooks (KS) are so important! Kudos to Raytown Police Department for including this topic in the citizen's academy! It is great to see safety and citizen programs part of the education included in the citizen's academy.
Civilian Nicole Grivno presented about Senior Programs. The City of Raytown/Raytown Police Department has 4 specialty programs for the elderly. They include:
- HEAR (Health Emergency Assistance Registry),
- Postal Carrier Alert Program (postal carrier will call for help for residents in this registered program who appear to need assistance),
- Project Lifesaver (a program to locate missing persons suffering from Alzheimer’s and other related dementia-type disorders or mental dysfunction disorders), and
- Safe Return (a similar program to Project Lifesaver program that gives assistance to
Cpl Dyon Harper presented about the role of PIOs and RPDs presence on social media. The Public Information Unit was formed in 2011. RPD has always had Public Information Officers to handle day to day media inquiries, provide information on critical incidentes, etc. but did not have a specific unit until 2011. The unit consists of 7 PIOs and 2 Supervisors. PIOs rotate call so that a PIO is on call 24/7. The focus has shifted from traditional media to communicating directly with citizens via social media. PIOs help get information out to the media and public but are also responsible for establishing a staging area for media during incidents. This allows the media to be informed and out of the way of the incident.
Social media is the forefront of information exchange. Raytown PD has a presence on the following social media platforms:
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RaytownPolice
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RaytownPD
- Blogger: https://twitter.com/RaytownPD
- Nixie: http://www.nixle.com/
- Press Releases and Incident Reports are housed on their WordPress blog: http://piorpd.wordpress.com/
- Webpage: http://raytown.mo.us/
And lastly, Sgt. Gill Anderson presented on the Crisis Negotiation Team. In 2011 the Crisis Negotiation Team formed separate from SWAT. Why negotiators? They are sworn to save lives, to enhance the special operations capabilities, and for legal liability. They negotiate with suicidal persons, homicidal/suicidal persons, hostage takers, emotionally disturbed, terrorists, etc. The 3 Cs of negotiation include: Context, Containment and Conversation.
A Crisis Negotation Team includes a commander, primary, coach, scribe and intel/floater. Each have unique jobs. CIT training through NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is required for all team members part of the RPD CNT. Special equipment they use includes: rescue phone, crisis response phone and cellular response console. CNT members recieve training through any of the following organizations: IAHN (International Association of Hostage Negotiators), FBI, CSM (Center for Strategic Management) or CNA (Crisis Negotiators Association).
Next week is another night of lecture at the library. Topics will include: Crime analysis, crime scene investigation, emergency management (I am interested in this so I am looking forward to what is presented on this topic) and Q&A with patrol.
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