Newly appointed Dearborn Heights Police Chief Kevin Swope (left) provides an update on the state of the Police Department during the Aug. 13 City Council meeting.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – Newly appointed Police Chief Kevin Swope updated the City Council on the current state of the department and described several potential initiatives during the Aug. 13 council meeting.
Swope said one of the first things he plans to do is to organize the city into four districts so they can see what type of crime is impacting the city and how they are going to tackle it.
He said he will create a team of people within the Detective Bureau consisting of detective sergeants, detectives, traffic officers and community police officers.
He said they also want to improve their community policing strategy, have been involved in community events more than ever and will continue to do so.
Swope said they are also looking to continue the department’s partnerships with groups like the stolen vehicle task force and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and they would like to join the multi-jurisdictional Special Operations Team for tactical and crisis negotiation, which would align the city’s police officers with the city’s firefighters, who are already part of the task force.
“One of the things I would like to do is bring a co-response team of a mental health professional and also a substance use disorder professional to actually work in-house at the Police Department, and go on runs with our officers to make sure that our citizens are receiving the best care and the best treatment that they possibly could have,” he said. “There are grants out there to pay for stuff like that, and hopefully we can grab one of those and make that program happen.”
Swope said having a Freedom of Information Act coordinator and a crime analyst are important to the department as well.
“It is critical that we are able to complete these functions with staff other than sworn police officers so we can fiscally be responsible and provide services to the city with the appropriate personnel,” he said.
Swope said that currently, he and about six other people are fulfilling FOIA requests, utilizing a mixture of records employees and police officers, but ideally FOIAs should be fulfilled by one dedicated person.
He said a properly trained FOIA and crime analyst are force multipliers, and the salaried positions would be exempt from overtime.
Swope said that while the department does not currently have a crime analyst, they know that it is critical that someone is assigned to fulfill the position.
“It is critical and our residents deserve to know exactly where crime is, and we have to be transparent and let everyone know what’s going on it the city,” he said.
Swope said a crime analyst will let the department focus police patrols where they are needed, instead of patrol officers covering random areas.
“Random patrols create random results,” he said. “But with a crime analyst, they look at everything: the crime trends, where the crime is occurring, and where it is going to occur, based on data – days and times – and we can put our officers there.”
Swope said by strategically placing officers in specific locations, they aren’t just driving around burning fuel.
The chief said that by eliminating waste, resources can be focused on where they are needed, such as hiring more dispatchers and cadets.
Swope said FOIA fulfillment is an important task, and can become litigious if not properly redacted, as it impacts the safety of those involved.
“Everyone wants information, and it is very important that we give out the correct information,” he said. “If we give out personal information that we shouldn’t, that’s a lawsuit.”
Swope said if a FOIA isn’t fulfilled in a timely manner, it can also trigger a lawsuit, which has the potential to cost the city money.
The chief said they also want to provide school resource officers to the Crestwood, District 7 and Westwood school districts, as well as Star Academy.
Swope said when officers are assigned to be school resource officers, the Police Department gets a 50 percent reimbursement from the school district.
He said that three officers are currently assigned to the schools, and he would like to add two more.