Kent Police form new Crime Reduction Unit to focus on specific areas

Kent Police have formed a new Crime Reduction Unit in efforts to combat drug trafficking, vehicle theft, street racing and other problem areas.

Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla announced the specialized unit during his Aug. 20 Public Safety Report to the City Council.

A sergeant, three officers and a K-9 unit will form the new squad, Padilla said. The officers will be moved off of patrol duties (they will not respond to 911 calls) to focus on specific crimes or hot spots.

“They will be highly visible in areas we need them to deter crime or take enforcement action,” Padilla said. “Our goal is to decrease and prevent crime and increase community engagement.”

Because staffing remains stable, Padilla decided to do what he called “creative restructuring” with the current staff.

“We’ve been wanting to move away from reacting posture to more preventative, community-based patrol,” Padilla said.

The unit will use data, intelligence gathered and crime statistics to determine the hot spots and problem areas where focus is needed.

Padilla said officers are still being chosen for the unit, which will be uniformed officers.

“We are putting together a really, really good team,” he said.

A partial team already started recently with an emphasis on stolen vehicles, Padilla said.

“They recovered five stolen vehicles and made three arrests in the first three hours of operating,” he said.

Another crime emphasis will be started soon, but the chief didn’t want to reveal yet what that focus would be.

“We expect big impacts,” said Padilla, who told the council he will report back in a few months about how the new team is doing.

Mayor Dana Ralph likes the plan.

“I’m really excited for this group,” Ralph said at the council meeting. “We get emails from residents about particular areas. I think it’ll be effective being proactive and it is a good feeling to be headed in that direction.”