On the evening of December 28, 1950, in the small town of Salina, Kansas, the Salina Police Department received a call claiming that a local liquor store was being robbed. Officers Smith and Rodgers reported to the scene to find two suspects preparing to make their escape. Officer Smith pulled one perpetrator from a car and restrained him as the other was leaving the store. Smith told his partner to watch the woman leaving the store, but the woman was able to reach the car, remove a shotgun, and fire at Rodgers. Officer Rodgers was knocked to the ground, but fired alongside Officer Smith and the liquor store owner at the woman as she escaped in the car. (Image of Kansas police officers originally from City of Pittsburg, Kansas)The female perpetrator was able to get away from the scene of the crime, but was caught by police the following day. She turned out to be a man named Teddy Pearsall, who became known as the "Petticoat Bandit" for his tendency to masquerade as a woman in robberies. Both were charged and convicted for their crimes and were sentenced to the Kansas state penitentiary. Officer Rodgers was seriously injured, but survived, although he was unable to return to his job as a police officer and retired in May of 1951 (City of Salina, 2006). Other Kansas police department histories can be found here and here.
Over 50 years have passed since that incident. Although crime rates were probably lower in 1950 than they are now, the types of crimes would likely have been the same - property crimes, burglaries, and such, with the exception of internet crimes. At the time, the police force didn't have access to the technology that is frequently used today. Problems they might have encountered would likely have been with communication. Without cell phones or GPS tracking, things were very different. The organization that police have today would have been much harder to accomplish with the technology available to police in the 1950s, who didn't have personal computers like officers have now. The above story could've played out very differently today, with police having Tasers available to them that could've incapacitated the perpetrators before a single shot had to be fired.
In contrast with 1950s police, today's police offers face entirely new situations, including internet crimes. Other problems that are likely much more prevalent include identity theft, drug trafficking, and vehicular theft. Identity theft is more of a problem with the internet and credit cards, and vehicular theft has increased due to many more people having vehicles today than they did in 1950. Besides this, the problems the police encountered then, such as funding, keeping crime rates down, and other related issues, are similar to what they would encounter today - the difference is how they go about solving them.
Community Policing is described as "a police philosophy suggesting that problem solving is best done at the neighborhood level, where issues originate, not at a far-off central headquarters (Siegal, 2008)."
From the Kansas City Police Department on community policing:
"Principles of community policing are the foundation of the KCPD commitment to the people, highlighted by our Mission Statement: To protect life and property while reducing fear and disorder (Kansas City Police Department, 2008)."
The Community Policing of Kansas City connects with the community by having officers regularly attend community meetings, and provide presentations on safety and crime prevention. The police department also has a downtown bike patrol unit that works closely with downtown Kansas City businesses and residents in addressing crime and safety. They are viewed as accessible to residents, business owners and visitors in the area and routinely speak with residents to remain aware of any current or potential problems. This police department also teams up with community and neighborhood groups to help and prevent problems such as drug use, homelessness, teen parties, and also to create outreach programs to keep school-aged kids out of trouble.
One problem that can come from community policing is reorienting police values. Officers may feel dissatisfied with community policing compared to traditional crime control oriented policing (Siegal, 2008). It is even thought that community policing may be looked down upon within the department. The Kansas City Police Department confronts this problem by engraving the philosophy into every officer’s mind from the beginning:
"Although KCPD has established several proactive units that deal more directly with community, early on community policing was adopted as a department-wide philosophy, not just a program for specialized units. For this reason, all officers are involved in the problem identification and problem solving associated with public safety issues. The current economic situation and pending budget cuts, with the threat of lay-offs and long term officer vacancies, has the potential to highly impact our programs. Funding from the COPS Hiring Recovery Program will provide the necessary means to continue, and enhance, our community policing efforts (Kansas City Police Department, 2008)."
Locally, the state of Kansas has 238 police agencies, with 5,292 total officers and 4,039 sworn personnel. Kansas has 104 sheriffs' offices with 3,758 total officers and 1,975 sworn personnel. On a state-wide level, Kansas has 840 full-time employees and 541 sworn personnel. The numbers of sworn officers per 100,000 people for local police, sheriffs' offices, and state police are 149, 72, and 20, respectively (Reaves, 2007).
Kansas seems to have an adequate amount of police officers per 100,000 people. Its numbers are rather high compared to most other states. Additionally, Kansas isn't known for high crime rates. Besides that, Kansas is already facing budget problems and has a good community policing program (Kansas City Police Department, 2008).
City of Salina. (2006). Salina Police Department Officer's Stories. Retrieved September 28, 2009, from http://www.salina-ks.gov/content/126/193/1634/1471/2271.aspx
Kansas City Police Department. (2008). Budget and Community Policing. Retrieved September 28, 2009, from www.kcpd.org/masterindex/informant/08_25_grantApp.doc
Reaves, Brian A. (2007). Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2004, NCJ 212749. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Siegel, Larry J. (2008). Introduction to Criminal Justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
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