Innovations are part of Kent P.D.

The conventional wisdom about the public sector is that we do not innovate. There are plenty of examples, though, where we do innovate and think of new ways to do our job and to approach problems. This week I thought I’d discuss two of them.

The first is our Automated License Plate Reader technology. You may have heard about the squad car equipped with this tool when we had it installed earlier this year. It got quite a bit of attention and was a novel new approach, but the even better news is that it continues to work, very rarely has “downtime” like some cutting-edge technologies, and the sheer numbers it is racking up are amazing.

The device has three small cameras, each about the size of a pop can, installed near the overhead light bar. Each camera “sees” cars and “reads” license plates, then the internal software recognizes the characters on the plate, converts them to numbers and letters, then runs the plate number through a database to check if it is stolen or wanted. It does all of this almost instantaneously.

Sgt. Rafael Padilla, the supervisor of the Traffic Unit, provided these numbers: from Oct. 9 to Dec. 9, the single unit had run 84,768 plates through the system, resulting in more than 300 “hits”. Of those, nine stolen vehicles from our city were recovered, as well as six more that had been taken from other cities. If you conservatively estimate that each of these cars is worth an average of $10,000, that is $150,000 worth of property recovered in just the last two months. This plate reader unit cost about $25,000 to start and should be in use for years to come.

After review and approval from the City Council, a second ALPR was put online just last week. So now we are able to field two readers on all shifts, checking dozens of plates per minute. We use technology to make us more effective, save money for our residents and to free up officers to focus on face-to-face interactions and problem-solving.

A second innovation for us has been the new cadet program. You may already be seeing our cadets out and about in the city, in their tan-and-brown uniforms with “Park Patrol” on the back. They are doing extra patrol on bicycles in places like Clark Lake and Morrill Meadows Parks, conducting off-leash dog enforcement and checking the trails. They also are in the downtown area and on Green River and the Interurban Trails. They have been spending time in apartment parking lots, placing notices on cars that are left unlocked or with valuables in plain view, to help educate residents to help prevent crime.

The cadets work part-time, and are required to be students seeking a two- or four-year degree. Our cadets receive a small stipend for their time, and also receive some reimbursement for their tuition while in school. The city has obtained a grant to assist in paying for the tuition.

Besides park patrol and help around the office, the cadet program has an additional, and perhaps even more long-lasting, benefit. It helps bring non-traditional candidates into our department. Cadets can evaluate whether law enforcement is the right profession for them, while we also can get to know a little bit about them. The end result is a person who has a better feel for the job and for our department, and when they finish school, both the department and the cadet will really know if they are the right fit for a permanent police-officer position.

The current system of civil service testing and academy training are good for traditional candidates, but it requires an interested person to commit to the job before they really know if it’s the right career for them. With the cadet program, the familiarity for both sides helps us to make the connection earlier.

We keep looking for cost-effective ways to innovate and do our job better. Whether it’s providing patrol in parks, and also creating an effective recruitment tool, or finding and prosecuting auto thieves more effectively, we will keep working at it. The difficult economy makes hiring good people and defending our residents’ property that much more important to us.

Have a great week.