In 2008, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office
developed a Community Resource Team (C.R.T.) to address the need for
community policing and outreach in
History:
In 2008, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office
developed a Community Resource Team (C.R.T.) to address the need for
community policing and outreach in
Purpose:
C.R.T. was created to provide solutions to the following department goals:
Combine multiple strategies for a
comprehensive community policing
approach.
Partnership with a variety of
organizations to ensure that department efforts reflect the needs of
the community.
Identify sources of conflict between
law enforcement and the community and encourage efforts to resolve
them.
Evaluate the success of programs
offered.
Members:
C.R.T. is comprised of the following Logan County Sheriff’s Office employees: Deputy Jason Littlefield, Sergeant Tony East, Investigator Joe McBride, Sergeant Tammy Mathewson, Lieutenant John Johnson, Deputy Max Arellano, Investigator Laura Gardner, and Undersheriff Allan Pierce. To join C.R.T., individuals were asked to complete a memorandum indicating why they wished to join and outlining one (or more) idea for future community policing programs.
During 2009, the C.R.T. also had the
participation of Sergeant Jeff Annis and Deputy Randy Forsythe, both
of whom are no longer employed with the department.
While both were active participants in the program, C.R.T.
welcomed new members Mathewson, Johnson, and Arellano, all currently
working in the
Implementation:
The C.R.T. met several times throughout the year to determine ways to implement community related programs. To simplify the programs, it was decided that a ‘School and Community Program’ would be developed in 2008, to centralize information of programs available from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office. A vast number of programs were made available from teasing in school, to teenage alcohol abuse, suicide prevention, sexual assault intervention, drug awareness, etc. After months of preparation, in December of 2008 the final copies of the programs were completed. After the initial year of conception and planning, the program was launched in January of 2009.
Programs and Projects
Created Programs
In addition to the Human Relations Media pre-made programs, members of C.R.T. created the following programs that will be offered by the Sheriff’s Office: Women’s Self-Defense, K-9 Presentation, Drug Awareness, and Avoiding Identity Theft. These programs were developed at no cost and were offered in 2009.
Child Identification Kits
Through
our own unique design, specialized Logan County Sheriff’s Office
Child Identification Kits were developed.
These kits will be made available through the Program catalog
and at arranged events.
The kits are a valuable resource for parents in the event their
child goes missing.
Information is included in the kits to provide DNA, fingerprints,
personal information, medical, and visual identification.
Included on the kits are printed tips on preventing child
abductions.
This year we also developed a “Blue Santa” edition of the Child ID Kits that were used during the holidays. This edition included a logo from the Sterling Police Department and was well received by the public.
2009 School and Community Programs
Fifty “Program Catalogs” were created for the
2009 year. These
catalogs display all pre-made programs offered by the Sheriff’s
Office. These programs
were created to offer a ‘one-stop’ place for schools and community
members to view all the programs offered by the Sheriff’s Office.
In addition, partnerships were developed with the 13th
Judicial District Attorney’s Office, High Plains Sexual Assault
Center,
Due to the low overall costs of printing these catalogs, a new update will be printed yearly. Several organizations have expressed interest in the next print, offering the potential of even more programs being available and strengthening the teamwork between organizations in the community and the Sheriff’s Office.
Trick-or-Treat Safely
During the month of October, a program was offered by the Sheriff’s Office to community schools. This program, “Trick-or-Treat Safely”, emphasizes safe behavior and preventive methods to keep children safe from harm during the holiday. Since beginning in 2008, the program has been a yearly success. Unfortunately, because of school closures due to weather, we were unable to complete two scheduled programs at Trinity Lutheran pre-school. An effort will be made in 2010 to increase the amount of schools where this program is offered.
Blue Santa
Blue Santa is a program originally created in
2009 marked the inaugural year of Blue Santa in
A portion of the 2009 CRT Budget was alloted to start Blue Santa. The costume was ordered online from Extreme Halloween and delivered to the Sheriff’s Office. Additional costs were for an HP printer and printed material.
To introduce Blue Santa in 2009, and have a successful start, the scope of the program was small. Have a well put together event to introduce Blue Santa, give a taste of the program to the public, and limit the charity drive to food only. The initial “board” for Blue Santa consisted of Investigator McBride, Sterling Police Department Lieutenant Tyson Kerr, and citizen Tara Barlean.
A press release was created and we received a great response from the media and public. When Wal-Mart learned of Blue Santa they donated $2,000 to the project. Since no 401(c)(3) or charity tax number was in place, Michelle Long of the High Plains Sexual Assault Center acted as a sponsor group to the project. For that reason, Wal-Mart also donated $1,000 to HPSAC.
On 12/12/09, numerous members of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, Sterling Police Department, and Tara Barlean assisted with the introduction of Blue Santa at the old Logan County Courthouse. Approximately one hundred ninety-one parents, children, and citizens showed up for the event to meet with Blue Santa. Hot cocoa, cookies, and Child ID Kits were given away while children waited in line to sit on Blue Santa’s lap and make their requests for Christmas. In addition, photographs were taken of the children with Blue Santa and printed for free.
On 12/21 and 12/22/09, Lieutenant Kerr arranged the delivery of twenty-five food baskets to families in need. Funds from the donation to Blue Santa were used to purchase the baskets at cost from Wal-Mart. Blue Santa was present during the delivery of several of the baskets.
The program ended with a very promising future.
Numerous phone calls were received from the public in
response to the program with several partnerships being offered.
This was also the first program in many years where law
enforcement in
2009 Activity Reports
During 2009, the following were events that involved members of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office:
On 01/12/09, Deputy Littlefield read to children at Iliff Head Start. Jason spent approximately 60 minutes reading to 40 children at Head Start.
On 01/14/09, Deputy Forsythe read to children at Iliff Head Start. Randy spent approximately 10 minutes reading to 10 children at Head Start.
On 01/15/09, Investigator McBride presented “No
Excuses: Sexual Harassment” to 80 students at
On 02/03/09, Sheriff Powell, Undersheriff
Pierce, and Deputy Forsythe were present at
On 02/10/09, Deputy Littlefield and Deputy
Forsythe presented “Drug Awareness” to forty students at
On 2/12/09, Investigator McBride attended an “Administrative Review” meeting for the Logan County Child Protection Team on behalf of the CRT. This meeting lasted approximately one hour with fourteen people present.
On 2/18/09, Investigator McBride presented a “CRT Program” presentation to the Coordinating Council on Youth Services. This presentation lasted approximately one hour with twenty-five people present.
On 2/19/09, Investigator McBride presented a “CRT Program” presentation to the Logan County Realtor Board. This presentation lasted approximately forty-five minutes with twenty people present.
On 2/24/09, Sergeant Annis presented a “That’s so Rude!” program to Merino Elementary. Approximately sixty 5th and 6th grade students attended the program which lasted two hours.
On 3/3/09, Sergeant Annis presented a “CRT Program” presentation to the Sterling Lions Club. This presentation lasted approximately one and a half hours with 50 people present.
On 3/4/09, Deputy Forsythe presented a “CRT Program” presentation to the Sterling High School PTA. This presentation lasted approximately one hour with 8 people present.
On 4/14/09, Deputy Forsythe and Deputy Oline assisted the Sterling High School Student Council with a seatbelt survey. 349 occupants of vehicles were contacted in the High School parking lot with 324 wearing seatbelts. This event lasted approximately seventy-five minutes.
On 4/17/09, Deputy Forsythe and Michelle Long
presented “Dying High in the ER” to twenty kids at
On 5/8/09, Deputy Littlefield spoke to twelve kindergarten students at Peetz Elementary. The topic was theft and safety rules. Approximately twenty-five minutes were spent speaking to the children with Jason using handouts, “Drug Free” suckers, and Jr. Deputy stickers.
On 5/15/09, Inv. Gardner and Michelle Long
presented “The Ten Signs of Relationship Abuse” to fifteen kids at
On 6/6/09 and 6/7/09, Deputy Forsythe completed
Child ID Kits at Dickenson’s store in
On 6/11/09, Investigator McBride trained fourteen members of Logan County Social Services employees on Drug Recognition. This training lasted four hours.
On 6/13/09, Deputy Forsythe completed ten Child
ID Kits at
On 7/9/09, the CRT hosted “Courtroom Testimony”
training at the
On 7/17/09, the CRT hosted “Alzheimer’s/Dementia” training to seventeen members of Law Enforcement. Alison Goodman of the Alzheimer’s Association presented the topic. The training lasted one hour.
On 7/18/09, Deputy Forsythe and Investigator
McBride completed eighty Child ID Kits during Cub Scouts Day Camp at
On 8/19/09, Investigator McBride and Sheriff Powell presented a “CRT Program” to the Sterling Rotary Club. This presentation lasted approximately one hour with fifteen people present.
On 9/23/09, Investigator Gardner presented
“Careers in Law Enforcement” to forty-five students at
On 10/21/09, Investigator McBride presented
“Avoiding ID Theft” to fifteen citizens at
On 10/22/09, Investigator Gardner and Michelle
Long presented “10 Signs of Relationship Abuse” to one hundred and
fifty-three students at the
On 10/26/09, Investigator Gardner presented “Netsmartz”
for teens at
On 10/27/09, Investigator McBride presented
“Avoiding ID Theft” to thirty-five citizens at the
On 10/28/09, Sergeant Annis presented his “K-9
Program” and “Drug Awareness” to
On 10/29/09, Deputy Littlefield and Sergeant East presented “Halloween Safety” training to eighty –six students at Iliff Head Start. This program lasted two hours with handouts, glow in the dark safety bracelets, and trick-or-treat bags given out.
On 11/04/09, Investigator Gardner presented “NetSmartz”
for teens to one hundred students at
On 11/21/09, Sergeant Mathewson, Lieutenant
Johnson, and Investigator Johnson completed the 4th
Annual Inmate Book Fair at the
On 12/01/09, Investigator Gardner and Michelle
Long presented “I Never Thought It Was Rape” to one hundred and
fifty students at
On 12/11/09, Deputy Littlefield and Sergeant
East presented “Internet Safety” to sixty students at
On 12/12/09, Investigator McBride, Sheriff
Powell, Deputy A. Gardner, Lieutenant Johnson, Investigator Johnson,
Sergeant East, and Deputy Littlefield introduced “Blue Santa” to
On 12/15/09, Sergeant Japp and Deputy Littlefield completed twenty-five “Child ID Kits” at Little Folks Pre-School in Merino. This program lasted one hour.
On 12/18/09, Michelle Long and Commander Furrow
presented “Club Drugs” to one hundred and fifty students at
2010 Program Updates
C.R.T.
Catalog
In January of 2010, the C.R.T. Catalog will be made available to all schools and members of the community. Plans have been made to mail the catalogs and to deliver them personally by members of the C.R.T. The 2010 Catalog will have a new look along with a revised list: Due to Annis no longer being on the team, the K9 Program will be removed, the Alzheimer’s Association will be added as a 2010 C.R.T. partner, and new programs from the Alzheimer’s Association and programs regarding Netsmartz, Sexting, and internet safety will be added.
2010 Grants
With the C.R.T. program off the ground, two
grants look especially promising for the 2010 year:
2010 Budget Increase
A projected budget of $2000.00 will be made available in 2010. The funded amount remains the same as in 2009.
2010 Fundraising
While details are still being worked out, there are intentions by the C.R.T. to establish yearly fundraising efforts. Ideas have been general community outreach and a golf tournament. The money raised by these events would assist in obtaining more costly items for the Sheriff’s Office (i.e. McGruff program, robots, fund a fishing derby, and larger scale programs.)
In 2010 we plan to print agency ‘baseball’ type cards. These cards would offer the opportunity for local businesses to sponsor a deputy and have their logo printed on the back of the card. The fundraising from this event would offset the cost of printing the cards.
2009 Donations
In 2009, the CRT received a donation from Rob Larson. The donation consisted of fifty Glitter Tattoo Kits, seventeen Remote Control Mini-Helicopters, and two Remote Control Helicopters. These will be used by deputies to give to children of traumatic events (in addition to the already utilized stuffed animals.)
While the Blue Santa project is associated with the CRT, funds are kept separate as Blue Santa will be its own group. However this year, without separate non-profit accounts setup, it should be noted that several donations were given to the Blue Santa project. Included was $2,000 from Wal-Mart, water from Culligan and Hytek, $150 from Xcel Energy, designs from Willy Zwirn, Bedford Furniture, and media coverage/advertising by KPMX, KSTC, BOBFM, High Plains Sentinel, and the Journal Advocate.
Project Success
While 2008 was largely a planning/implementation year for the CRT, 2009 ended up as an extremely successful year for the team. The benefits included increased media coverage, larger scale programs, increased funds from both in-house and the public, positive public feedback, and agency cooperation.
2008 was the inaugural year for C.R.T. Programs started late in the year and ended up with 209 people in the community that attended our presentation, with 4.083 hours of actual presentation time. Topic in 2008 included Stranger Danger, Bike Safety, Identity Theft, Halloween Safety, and Child ID Kits. No data was available for community related projects/presentations prior to the 2008 year.
2009 had a large increase in statistics for the C.R.T. From 1/1/09 through 12/31/09, two thousand three hundred and ninety, young adults, adults and seniors attended our programs with a total time spent on projects of 87.33. In addition the programs presented were broadly expanded to include: Netsmartz, Halloween Safety, Drug Awareness, Red Ribbon Week, Identity Theft, Relationship Abuse, High School Career Day, CRT Public information programs, Child Identification Kits, Alzheimer’s/Dementia, Courtroom Testimony, Drug Recognition, Avoid Theft for kids, Child safety, Drug/Alcohol awareness and safety, Seatbelt Safety, Avoid being rude presentation for kids, Logan County child safety meeting, Sexual Harassment, Law Enforcement and Schools reading project, the 3rd Annual Book Fair for inmates, and the Blue Santa Program.
The increase in activities and time spent from 2008 to 2009 was dramatic, and represented a strong commitment by Sheriff’s Office management to contribute funds and employee time to the success of the programs:
When comparing
the total amount of citizens
When comparing the total time
from 2008
activities and 2009 activities there
spent from members of the C.R.T.
was a
1043% increase in the
amount of citizens
from 2008 activities and 2009
present at
C.R.T. events/presentations.
activities there was
a 2038%
increase in
time spent on
events/presentations.
2010 Goals
Several new projects are being planned for 2010 with the only obstacle to implementation being funding. Major projects for 2010 include developing a department mascot (which would include several smaller projects dealing with the mascot and children safety), obtaining a C.R.T. vehicle, and expanding the Blue Santa Project. As stated earlier, Blue Santa will become its own separate project with a board directors made up of law enforcement and citizens. Hopefully, with grant funding, the department mascot can be developed early spring of 2010. A mascot will have vast possibilities in regards to community relations in that it will not only be used for major functions like parades, but also be utilized as a symbol for our custom printed projects (safety coloring books, specially ordered products, Child ID Kits, etc.) Considerations have been made to utilize the department “Peacekeeper” as the C.R.T. vehicle which would only require a tune-up, paint job, and lighting before it would be functional.