Social media: the good, the bad and the untold

Social media:  the good, the bad and the untold

Facebook and other social media have proven to be useful tools in the animal world – connecting many unwanted pets with welcoming forever homes.  Nextdoor.com has been used to help solve neighborhood crime.  Social media has also proven useful in holding people and institutions accountable for their responsibilities. However, it is also possible to misuse these social tools, to lose sight of facts and fairness, and in the zeal of rescue, to be disrespectful and just plain mean.  This, of course, is unacceptable.

Unfortunately, some well-meaning animal lovers recently have crossed over that line, posting some inaccurate and unduly hostile items about Wichita Animal Control staff and members of the Animal Control Advisory Board. 

Consider these facts before rushing to judgment:

FACT: City of Wichita Departments don’t have staff devoted to monitoring social media 24-hours-a-day in order to respond to and correct inaccuracies and tell the other side of every story.  Thus, situations are often misrepresented by a single storyteller, because even if they contain some facts, they only tell a portion of the story.  

FACT: The Wichita Animal Shelter has one of the lowest dog euthanasia rates in the country. It was only 8% in 2015, and the rate for the first 10 months of 2016 is 7%. The ASPCA estimates the national average at around 31%.  It would appear to be in everyone’s best interest to work together to improve this rate even more.

Here are some more facts about two cases in point:

1. A story was recently posted on social media regarding an underweight Malamute, accusing Wichita Animal Services of not taking action.  There were photographs included that would have moved even the hardest heart.  But, as is often the case, there is more to the story.  Animal Services Officers investigated this situation and learned that a stray dog had jumped the fence and impregnated the female Malamute.  Sadly, she suffers from a serious dietary condition for which she is under a vet’s care and has to be on a special diet.  The birth of the puppies and their nursing further exacerbated the mother’s condition.  The Animal Services Officer entered the residence and examined the prepared raw food for the mother dog’s diet as prescribed by the Vet.   Additionally, the Officer contacted the Veterinary Clinic where the dog is being treated and confirmed the information that the owner provided.  Animal Services also educated the owner on the City ordinances regarding breeding dogs and selling puppies. 
    
2. Another heart wrenching story was shared about a dog that was put to sleep, portraying Animal Services staff as “ruthless killers.”  When in fact, a diverse group of animal rescues regularly pull animals from the City Animal Shelter.  Some of the rescues are breed specific, some take animals that have extensive medical needs and solicit money from the public to help defray the cost; other rescues only pull animals with minimal health issues in order to make their dollars stretch and save more animals.  Regardless of how each rescue chooses to operate, it is imperative that they tag the animals that they want to pull from the Shelter in a timely manner.  If the animal isn’t tagged, it will be humanely euthanized as the City cannot hold animals indefinitely.  If a rescue doesn’t tag an animal, then it’s unfair to blame Shelter staff when it is later euthanized. 

Facebook and other social media can be useful tools in the hands of public servants, pet lovers and animal rescue activists – but only if these tools are used responsibly. The opinions, feelings, and information shared must be fair to all concerned, and align with the facts.  There’s an old adage, “It doesn’t matter how thin you make the pancake, it still has two sides.” The same is true here. 

Experts advise Internet users to carefully examine the credibility of all online information. In other words, when you see something posted online, it’s a good practice to test it before swallowing it whole.  Consider the story being told, and ask yourself what might be left untold?

 

Growing Up In A Police Family

I still like to get out and work the street at night and have been doing it regularly since arriving here in January.  My family arrived this summer as my kids turned age six and nine.  I've been a police chief longer than my nine year old has been alive, so their experience has been solely with me in that role.  My daughter has never expressed much interest in my work and we're careful not to watch the news in their presence. While showing strong support for police, I've always been careful to not create a reason for my kids to worry about me.




Recently, I've noticed a change in my nine year old in regard to my profession.  It began with her consistently asking me what time I will be home from work and narrowing down where I will be and what I will be doing.  On a recent Friday night when I mentioned I was going into work, she pled with me to stay home.  She didn't say why she wanted me to stay home; she didn't have to. I could see sadness and worry in her face. It was apparent to me she was worried for my safety. She learned I will not be the administrator sitting behind a desk, but a first responder to dangerous situations. 

This was the first time I had experienced what countless police families have faced; the fact your child now understands the dangers of police work and what can happen in our line of work.  It was a feeling I will never forget as my mind wandered to police friends with kids and how all of them experienced this at some point. 




Later that night, I was clearing a civil dispute when I was called by my wife.  She told me my daughter was now asleep after crying hysterically because she was worried about me being hurt by a "bad guy."  My daughter is growing up fast and now realizes the dangers of this noble profession.




Here's more of what I'm talking about....Take a look at this story and video.  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/family-slain-officer-douglas-barney-goodbye-hero-article-1.2510826


or if the video doesn't load


https://www.facebook.com/fox13newsutah/videos/vb.75831650585/10153858966500586/?type=2&theater

The Formula

What does policing need to strengthen trust and build relationships in the communities we serve? 





1. We Need the Right People
We need to better recruit and hire people with maturity, excellent communication skills, compassion, diverse life experience and background as well as a college education. Additionally, we need people who desire to make our neighborhoods better; not someone who sees their job as an occupying force, but a dedicated relationship builder who has a stake in our community’s success.  Hiring those who have experienced adversity and had some "bumps in the road" can relate better and understand the issues many face in our community is important.





2. We Need the Right Training
Training of our officers continues to improve. Whether it is crisis intervention training for dealing with those who are mentally ill or de-escalation training or verbal skill enhancement, our officers have never been better trained. But we can do better, I recently heard of a study that found for every hour of extra in-service training an officer receives their use of force incidents drop 4%. That is a good return on your investment. Police involved shootings and improper use of force garner the most attention from our community, so we will continue to train on innovative practices to ensure our officers are trained well above national standards. We will work with all those we serve to build understanding and support for those rare instances when despite officers doing the right thing and for the right reason, things go wrong.



3. We Need Technology
Innovative technology will also help us reduce prevent and reduce crime as well as the need for police to use force. While privacy advocates and I share the same concerns about big government watching our citizen’s activities, there are occasions where emerging technology will prevent a police officer, innocent people or even a dangerous suspect from getting hurt. Innovations are occurring rapidly, so we must begin talking about technology and policing now because technology is often developing faster than good policies can be established. Technology used in policing must be shared openly with the public and vetted properly so there is a clear and legal understanding of when and how the technology can be used to keep our community safe.



4. Community Policing Needs Support
We must continue to embrace and build on community policing. My own career experience with community policing guides me today because I know how well it works. To do community policing right, it requires putting the right people in the right places, having sufficient staffing, funding and training. When police build relationships with community members, community groups and our business community we solve problems and reduce crime; as well as improve our neighborhoods. I want our officers to know the business owners and employees as well as the residents in their beats. We need to focus on communities who have had historical tension with police and do everything we can to address issues of disparities.  This is what community policing is all about and it is what we will continue to build on in the years ahead.

I have been interested in police use of force issues for all of my 23 years in policing and as chief, I am keenly aware and sensitive to concerns about police use of force. When I first entered this profession, I believed that by now there would be something created that could reliably incapacitate someone without harming them.  Unfortunately, that option does not yet exist.  

 Shortly after arriving in Wichita, I expanded the use of less lethal options to deadly force and now every sergeant's squad has beanbag shotguns that can be an option if practical.  We also recently purchased and are testing a device capable of firing high velocity foam rounds that temporarily incapacitate someone and is less likely to cause serious injury or death. Tasers are still an option, but they are reliable only under ideal circumstances.  We are always watching for new technology to help us reduce the need for deadly force.  Until we find a tool that can reliably incapacitate someone, there will be a need to use force to protect individuals and officers.

 Here is my philosophy on the use of force by police.  I have focused on creating a police culture that is focused on utilizing good police tactics in an effort to avoid creating a crisis.  Good tactics increase officer safety and decrease the use of force police must use.  My expectation for our officers is that they focus on the important concept of de-escalation. While the concept is fairly simple, it starts with effective communication.  Because of state and federal budget cuts, there is an over reliance on police for dealing with our communities mentally ill and we have become the 24/7 mental health workers on our streets.  For a number of years WPD has been providing officers comprehensive training on how to de-escalate individuals through crisis intervention training and mental health first aid.  About 75% of commissioned officers have received this training and the positive effects are being noticed.   Additionally, a large number of our volatile calls involve those under the influence of alcohol or drugs.  The lack of chemical dependency treatment options requires our officers to be skilled in dealing with those with substance abuse problems.

In addition to effective communication, we are training our officers to consider their approach to potentially dangerous situations. Rather than rushing into a volatile situation, whenever possible officers should use a tactically sound approach that includes using time and distance, good cover and communication skills to slow down violent incidents. 

 What many don’t know, is that we respond daily to calls of individuals wanting to do harm to themselves or others and these incidents are peacefully resolved by Wichita police officers.  In the last few weeks alone I am aware of numerous calls individuals calling 911 and requesting that an officer be sent so they can kill police officers or make requests of a police officer can kill them.  One recent situation involved a man threatening suicide with a knife at a church, officers used good positioning to keep themselves safe while talking with the man offering support.  Officers were careful not to put themselves in a position where they would have to use deadly force.  By communicating and utilizing de-escalation techniques they were able to convince the man to drop the knife. They brought him in to the hospital to get the help he needed. In all of the recent situations our officers used effective communication skills, tactics - and in a couple of cases utilized excellent and innovative police methods to ensure the safety of the individual in crisis as well as the officers. These are the everyday police incidents that are resolved peacefully that you don't hear about. 

In closing, recognizing the sanctity of human life is important to me as your police chief and we will continue to focus and train and build our culture around this philosophy. 

Priorities

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first few months in Wichita and believe it is important to keep residents updated by providing a brief outline of my priorities.  My overriding goal is to keep our community safe.  I am passionate about the role police play in society strongly and know that police count; making a positive difference in our communities every minute of every day.  I was pleased to read a February survey found 90% of those who had contact with Wichita police staff had a fair, good or excellent interaction. While those numbers are good, there is always room for improvement. Here are my priorities as we move forward.

1. We have not been able to hire enough officers to replace those that are retiring and it has left us shorthanded. Since arriving, I have spent a lot of time on the street and consistently see officers start and end their shift with 911 calls waiting to be answered. Residents are waiting too long for officer response and we are not as proactive as we could be because of our inability to hire enough people. We need to work harder and smarter at recruiting individuals to become police officers. We have not been able to recruit enough officers in recent years to reach our budgeted number of staff. We have the support from City Administration, Mayor or Council to hire more officers, but we simply can't get enough people in the door fast enough. We are currently about 30 officers short and unless we change our practices, we will continue to lose ground and could be 50 officers short by the end of the year. We simply need to change our business practice around hiring, because what we are doing is not working. Filling the empty squad cars is a priority.

2. While our officers are busy, I want to see our officers moving closer to the community and take every opportunity to have positive interactions. We must be careful not to become overly focused on enforcement and instead engage citizens proactively in crime prevention, neighborhood watch, citizen patrols and consistently look for opportunities to have positive contacts. Now in my 24th year of policing I learned a long time ago we solve crime by having good relationships with those we serve because they provide information when they know and trust their police. Many police departments moved away from community policing and in places such as Ferguson became overly focused on revenue generation through tickets. While we will always have to enforce laws,  it is imperative to remember we are the servants, guardians, protectors, problem solvers and helpers in our community - not oppressors and occupiers of our neighborhoods.

3. I want to ensure safe neighborhoods and provide our officers with tools to be successful in their effort. Through technology, training and new ordinances I know we can have a powerful impact on safety because I've done it. Since arriving here, I've met with over 30 community groups and hear resident’s concerns at every meeting and have found a common theme related to habitual problem properties.  Stories relayed to me by residents involve chronic problem properties where the term being neighborly is not part of the equation. Blight, parties and other disturbances has neighbors upset - and they look to the police for solutions. I have found that too often our officers are responding over and over and lack tools to improve the situation. Most concerning is taxpayers are subsidizing excessive police response to problem properties.


 


Like most everything in life a few seem to ruin it for the majority. I have found motels fit into this category and recognize the majority of motels are managed well, however in Wichita a couple of clusters of motels are infested with crime and drugs; and it seems to be occurring with management's full knowledge. Problem motels bring down the surrounding neighborhood and are utilizing an enormous amount of police resources. The time has come for the owners and managers of problem motels to be accountable for the problems occurring at their property. We will be calling on their owners and management to work with us to create safe and drug free environments - we simply are not going to tolerate what is occurring at these places any longer.


4.  I have begun a top to bottom review of policies and practices.  While this is a major undertaking and there is a lot to do, I recognize that this is an area staff and stakeholders want reviewed to ensure we are following best practices and meeting industry standards.