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2011 Annual Report
Mission & Values Statements: Show Low Police Department’s mission is to have "A Passion for Excellence!" The Values of the agency are: Professionalism Respect Integrity Dignity Excellence Budget Highlights: The Police Department is organized into two divisions and several units in order to provide an adequate span of control and to identify specific program costs. The two divisions are Operations and Operational Support. The Operations Division includes; Patrol, Traffic Safety and Investigations, while the Operational Support Division includes; Administration, Animal Control and Communications. The Police Department’s overall staffing is 47.35 positions, of which 30.0 are sworn positions. Included in the 47.35 positions mentioned above are 11.3 positions in Communications and 2.5 positions within Animal Control. Also included in this number are two School Resource Officers (SRO), both of which are full-time grant funded, a grant funded Major Crimes Apprehension Team (MCAT) supervisor and one sworn supervisory position dedicated to traffic safety and tied directly to photo enforcement.
During this year we adjusted and improved staffing by adding an additional part-time administrative assistant to help with the front office. A current part-time Evidence/Crime scene technician position was increased to a full-time position to better manage the property room and assist with meeting CALEA guidelines. Budget Summary: The Police Department’s FY2012 budget of $4,964,300 represents a decrease of $496,500 (9%) from the FY2011 budget of $5,460,800. When adjusted for photo enforcement revenue modifications there is virtually no change from the FY2011 budget. Included in this amount is $172,000 in personnel costs that are completely funded through the School District (SRO) and the County (MCAT). Salaries and fringes total $3,877,800 and represent 78% of the Police Department’s general fund budget. Salaries and fringes increase by $147,200 (4%) due to a cost of living increase, medical costs and the city’s portion of the retirement contribution. Included in the police department’s general fund salaries amount is a total of $181,000 in overtime costs. All overtime related to photo enforcement has been removed as citation volume and workload are handled by a full-time dedicated position and officers on light duty. All other overtime is used to cover shifts, work extended hours on active cases, special events, call outs, holidays and training.
Non-personnel costs have a net decrease of $643,700 from the FY2011 budget, when adjusted for photo enforcement revenue modifications and capital there is a net increase of $10,400 (1%) from the FY2011 budget. As grants are awarded to the department throughout the year, budget transfers will be authorized to establish budget authority for the amount of the grant. During FY2011 local RICO funds were expended and future funds will be administered by the county. Statistics
2011 2010 2009 Patrol Statistics: Internal Affairs: There
were eleven internal affair investigations involving department members in 2011.
Six of these investigations resulted from external complaints filed by citizens.
Out of the eleven investigations, five complaints were sustained and in six, the
officer(s) were exonerated. The full-time population for the City of Show Low according to the 2010 Census is 10,660. Grant Funding Show Low Police Department received and/or administered approximately $536,259 in grant funds during 2011. Grants were received from the Department of Homeland Security, the AZ Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, the U.S. Justice Department, Navajo County Major Crimes Task Force Board.
These grants provided communications equipment, computer software, speed detection devices, video camera systems, SWAT Team equipment, DUI enforcement overtime, homicide investigation overtime, and funding for an additional police officer position.
Purchases Made with Asset Forfeiture Funds Approximately $60,000 in RICO funds were used to purchase new radio consoles for the communications center. A 2007 Chevy Suburban was seized and outfitted as a K9 vehicle. External Projects and Community Involvement Show Low Police Department helped sponsor the MLK Day volunteer activities in January. A Click It or Ticket poster contest was held at the
primary schools at the end of May, kicking off a seatbelt enforcement campaign.
Chief Smythe arranged for a signed Kurt Warner picture and a signed Luis Gonzales jersey to be donated to a fund raising auction at the FBI Academy. $14,000 was raised for COPS kids (an organization that helps the families of slain police officers) and the National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum. The Police Department assisted the White Mountain Humane Society in obtaining a large quantity of surplus cleaning supplies from Pinal County for no charge. In April, the Police Department put on, with assistance from other emergency service entities, a mock DUI accident scene for the high school prior to prom and graduation. National Night Out was held in August with four community groups hosting block parties. The annual Citizens Academy ran June through August with approximately 40 students. The graduates of this class formed an association to help support the police department.
The Annual Public Safety Open House was held in October in conjunction with Show Low Fire Department, DPS, Navajo County, Navajo County Drug Coalition, Air Evac, EMS and various volunteer groups. Shop-with-a-Cop was done in December with 250 kids participating. Pinetop-Lakeside, Navajo County, Senior Patrol, the AZ Rangers and AZ Game and Fish worked along with Show Low Police Department to make this a great Christmas for the kids. The Children Are Priceless Passengers (CAPPS) program put almost 200 free child safety seats into the community. CAPPS also provided court diversion classes monthly for those individuals who received child safety seat citations. The Police Department also participated with a number of community events such as the Memorial Day Parade, the July 4th Parade, the Electric Light Parade, Stroll the Deuce, Drop the Deuce of Clubs and other such events. Specific Police Activity and/or Important Cases There were two homicides and several attempted homicides within Show Low in 2011. Arrests have been made in each of these cases, but one homicide suspect is still at-large in Mexico. Detectives continue working with Federal authorities to extradite this person back to the United States. In addition to these cases, detectives assisted with three homicide investigations in Navajo County as part of the Navajo County Homicide Task Force.
The Multi-Agency Special Response Team (SRT) handled 7 callouts in 2011. There were five high risk search warrants, one barricaded subject and one hostage situation. The SRT team trains monthly and is the primary emergency response unit for Southern Navajo County. Animal Control assisted Apache County Sheriff’s Office with a hoarding case where almost 300 animals were seized. Walgreens was robbed in January. During the same month, a man attempted suicide at the same Walgreens, shooting a firearm across a busy highway and then shooting himself in the head. A child pornography case was investigated involving hundreds of hours of video evidence that had to be reviewed.
There were three major fires in 2011: The Wallow, Willow and Wash fires. Show Low officers spent nearly 2,000 hours providing evacuation and site protection as well as backfilling for our officers to continue providing law enforcement services in Show Low. The Humane Society of Arizona set up an evacuation center at Show Low’s animal shelter during the wild fires. Approximately 100 animals were taken in during the Wallow fire evacuation. Circle K West was robbed in October, 2011. The suspects were located and one suspect resisted, attempting to disarm and then stab an officer. The struggle resulted in the use of deadly force by the officers. A review of the incident by the Navajo County Attorney’s Office and the Police Department’s Use of Force Review Board found the officer’s use of force to be reasonable and justified. There were 67 WeTip crime referrals made to the police department in 2011. Each referral was assigned to an investigator or forwarded to the proper authority. One arrest was made off of WeTip information. There were numerous search warrants written and served this year involving a variety of crimes such as crimes against persons, stolen property, drugs, blood from DUI suspects and animals who were the victim of cruelty. Additional Information The Police Department continued working on the accreditation process through CALEA. We are on schedule for initial Accreditation in July of 2012. For 2011 the City of Show Low had 8 road safety cameras in operation. An average total of 1,445,277 vehicles per month passed those 8 locations. There were 20,151 violations noted by all 8 cameras. Of the total number of violations, 2,853 were red light violations as noted by 3 cameras. There were 252 accidents in 2011 with two traffic fatalities. In October, the Police Department’s phone and radio systems suffered severe damage from lightning strikes. This required the replacement of several key radio receivers and the main telephone exchange system.
The Police Department’s communications center was relocated and remodeled in 2011. The new communications room is double the size and provides five console positions for both police and fire dispatching. As part of the remodel a new classroom, weight room and defensive tactics room were established across the street from the police department at the City Complex. Two new police K9’s went into service this year. The dogs and their handlers attended the Department of Corrections Canine Academy in Tucson for their initial training. Senior Patrol has 28 active members and provided 8,194 hours of volunteer service. We regularly receive letters of commendation for Senior Patrol members and they are continually visible in our community. |
