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Annual Report

Mr. Ken Krombeen

Grandville City Manager

3195 Wilson Avenue SW

Grandville, MI 49418

Dear Mr. Krombeen;

The Grandville Police Department respectfully submits its 2005 Annual Report of Police Activities and Informational Statistics. Total police responses were 8,618 representing a decrease of 11.7% from the 9,755 calls during 2004. The Department has continued to find ways to work more efficiently and a portion of the decrease in calls reflects changes that have been made over the past several years.

Three significant changes have occurred during the past year that reduced the number of incident numbers. This year, the 59^th District Court replaced many of its paper warrants with electronic warrants. The court is one of a small number throughout the State of Michigan that is working on this project. The electronic warrants have caused a reduction in work for the Grandville Police Department. With the paper warrants, if there was not already a police report on file, one had to be generated. The second change is the closing of the LaGrande Mobile Home Park which has also caused a reduction in calls for service. The third change is the new law that covers abandoned vehicles. This law took effect on October 1, 2005. It has significantly changed how abandoned vehicles are processed.

CRIME:

Once again, the Department is very pleased to report that most categories of offenses have remained close to levels reported prior to the significant commercial growth that has occurred since 1998. The Department did investigate one suspicious death that is reported as a negligent homicide on the report. The investigation has just been recently completed and the Kent County Prosecutor has ruled that there will be no prosecution in the incident.

Sexual assaults have shown a 31% decrease in 2005 compared to 2004. Assaults reported were down 21% during 2005 compared to 2004. Together, larcenies and retail frauds reported were exactly the same in 2005 as in 2004. Burglaries showed a 3% increase in 2005 compared to 2004, but the number reported during 2004 was the lowest in many years.

Robberies were up significantly at 180% over the 2004 level. Almost all of the robberies reported were of businesses. Four of them were gas stations, two were motels, one was a bank, one was a book store, and three were originally retail fraud offenses during which the suspect used a weapon to attempt their escape. Three people were robbed while in business parking lots, and one person was robbed while on the street. Nine of the robberies were cleared with arrests.

TRAFFIC:

Grandville recorded two traffic fatalities during 2005. One person died several weeks after they were involved in an accident at Rivertown Parkway and Potomac Avenue SW. A second person died when the car they were riding in lost control and ran into a Grandville Police vehicle that had its emergency equipment activated while it was stopped behind a vehicle that had pulled off the roadway on I-196 at 28^th Street. That fatality is not included in the statistical data included in this report since the investigation was completed by the Walker Police Department.

Overall, all accidents reported during 2005 were down 23.2% compared to 2004. Property damage accidents declined by 21.4%, personal injury accidents declined by 38.8%, and hit and run accidents declined by 23.2%. The number of accidents during 2005 was the lowest since 1993.

Traffic tickets were down by 12%, verbal warnings were up by 5%, and parking tickets were up by 73% for the year. The increase in parking tickets is due to the implementation of time restrictions in the municipal lot at the request of downtown business owners.

The Department again participated in both the Click-It-Or-Ticket and the You-Drink-You-Drive-You-Lose campaigns during 2005. These projects are funded by grants from the Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP). The grants are collaborative efforts involving many of the other area police departments. This year, the Department also participated in an OHSP funded project that emphasized intersection safety. The local departments were part of a pilot project. This project resulted from the red light project that was initiated by the Grandville Police Department and involved many other local departments.

COMMUNITY POLICING:

Grandville Community Policing officers were among the first in the area to offer drug test kits to parents. The Law Enforcement Against Drugs (LEAD) program allows parents to purchase drug testing kits from police departments. Parents who are concerned that their children could be using drugs can purchase the kits to either confirm their suspicions or to determine that their children are not using drugs.

Grandville Police and Fire personnel attended seven block parties this year on National Night Out. This event gives residents an opportunity to get to know their neighbors. One of the most effective ways to prevent and fight crime is for people to know what is normal in their neighborhoods and to report suspicious activity to the police.

Community Policing officers again worked with probation officers from the 59^th District Court on community clean up projects. This partnership helps keep Grandville looking good and holds minor offenders responsible while avoiding the high cost of incarceration.

The July 4 celebration again was a great success as a community event. Many thousands of people attend the many activities that are a part of this celebration.

ANNUAL AWARDS:

Officer Dave Greco was recognized as the Police Officer of the Year. Dave has been with the Department for over eighteen years. He has worked in both Patrol and Community Policing. He has most recently been assigned as the Police-School Liaison Officer. Dave has already been a tremendous success in this assignment due to his unique ability to communicate with students or all ages. He can adapt his style to fit in with kids from elementary to high school age.

Officer Lisa Clockman received the Chief’s Award of Excellence for 2005. This is the second year in a row that she has received this award. She is assigned as the Support Services Officer and is responsible for courtroom security, prisoner transfers, property management, and abandoned vehicles. She also updated and coordinated the training program for newly hired Clerk/Dispatchers. Lisa regularly helps out anywhere she is needed in the Department.

Officer John Davis received the Individual Commendation. John was on routine patrol when he observed a suspicious occupied vehicle near a building that was being remodeled. When he stopped to investigate, he learned that he had interrupted a sexual assault in progress. He rescued the fifteen year old victim and arrested the twenty year old suspect.

Officer John Davis also received a Letter of Commendation for his professional efforts when he began checking area businesses after hearing over the police radio that Wyoming had experienced a burglary near the city limits. John discovered a broken window at a Grandville business. Although the suspect was apparently scared off, John’s observations prevented the suspect from gaining entry and removing anything.

Clerk/Dispatcher Mark Perkin received a Letter of Commendation for his hard work in training newly hired employees. Two of the Department’s dispatchers left during 2005 and Mark was instrumental in providing training to their replacements. Mark is well recognized for his public service attitude and is regularly recognized in letters from citizens for the way he treats the public.

Officer Christine VanderLaan received a Letter of Commendation for her actions that exemplify the spirit of community policing. While on a fire alarm call, she met a 94 year old woman who lived alone and was having difficulty with some of her day to day tasks. Officer VanderLaan regularly stops by the apartment to check on the woman, either providing her some assistance, or just some occasional company.

Officer Bill Howland received a Letter of Commendation for his actions while conducting a traffic stop. While checking the occupants of a vehicle, he determined that two of the occupants had been drinking and that they were underage. While completing his investigation, he found a credit card that didn’t belong to anyone in the vehicle. In following up on the credit card, he learned that the victim had her purse stolen. His investigation resulted in stolen property being recovered and the person responsible for the larceny being arrested.

Officer Bill Howland received a second Letter of Commendation when he located a suspicious person riding a bike carrying a tool box while responding to the area in which someone had been reported to be breaking into cars. Upon further investigation, Officer Howland located a credit card belonging to one of the vehicle owners. His efforts resulted in the recovery of the stolen property from several vehicle burglaries and the arrest of the person responsible.

Officers Kami Pater, Rodney Holmes, Darin Rietman, and Dispatcher Marc Larabel received a Letter of Commendation for their combined efforts in responding to a report of a group of people breaking into vehicles. Through a coordinated response, five people were arrested and the stolen property recovered when several vehicles were broken into by the group.

Officer Rich Brown received a Letter of Commendation for his efforts when he responded to a suspicious occupied vehicle. His investigation resulted in the arrest of one suspect for possession of heroin and a second suspect for delivery of heroin.

Detective Wendy Evanov received a Letter of Commendation for her work throughout the year. Detective Evanov is assigned most of the juvenile and sex related offenses. These investigations are very complicated and require a thorough follow-up investigation. They can also be very frustrating just by their nature. During the year, Wendy was also involved in a suspicious death investigation that took up a significant amount of investigative time.

The Grandville Police Department Board of Awards is comprised of members of the Department. They review nominations for awards from members of the Department and recommend the people to be commended. They particularly look for self initiated police activity. Throughout the year, there are many instances of excellent police work where officers are dispatched to an incident that do not rise to the level of formal recognition in the eyes of the Board.

TRAINING:

Sergeants Dan Steere and Renee Veldman both completed the Leadership Institute which is offered by the Grand Rapids Police Department. This three week school includes nationally recognized instructors in the areas of management, leadership, motivation, and discipline.

The Grandville Police Department has taken full advantage of the training opportunities offered by the Grand Valley Training Consortium since joining it. All officers and sergeants have completed the Managing Civil Actions in Threat Incident training during the year. Sixteen officers and sergeants also completed the precision driving class.

All of the officers and sergeants have now completed the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives classes. All command officers have also completed the National Incident Command (IS-700) and National Response Plan (IS-800) required by FEMA. The Grandville Police Department was one of the first in the area to have completed all of the required classes.

Officers also participated in simmunition training this year. This scenario based training is interactive and requires officers to not only demonstrate their capabilities with their issued equipment, but to also show that they can think on their feet in a high stress setting and make appropriate decisions.

STAFFING:

Officer Ron Colvin retired this year after devoting over thirty years of service to the City of Grandville. Officer Jennifer Roelofs left the Department after ten years of service to be a full time mom. Only one of these two budgeted positions were filled during the year. Officer Rory Allen was hired as a police officer and was just completing the field training program at the end of the year. Officer Allen has several years of prior police experience.

Two Clerk/Dispatchers left the Department during the first half of the year. Maureen Forman left the Department to move to California for a new career opportunity. Kristina Kramer left the Department to enter a new career locally. Corey Guigelaar was hired as a Clerk/Dispatcher during the summer. In lieu of filling the other vacant full time Clerk/Dispatcher position, the Department rehired both Kristina Kramer and Jennifer Roelofs as part time dispatchers.

SUMMATION:

The Department is very proud of its many accomplishments during the year 2005. Traffic accidents are down significantly and most categories of crime, with the exception of larcenies, are either equal to or lower than the rates before all of the commercial development in the south end of the City. That is very significant in light of the extent of the changes that have occurred. This is at the same time that positions have not been filled due to future budget concerns. Every effort has been made to keep patrol staffing at an adequate level. Support positions have been allowed to remain unfilled, although that generally means that patrol personnel at times have to come off patrol to complete the assignments those vacant positions are responsible for. An examination of the graph showing All Complaints 2005 compared to Number of Patrol Officers by hour of day demonstrates that the assignment of personnel coincides closely with the level of activity.

Respectfully submitted,

Vernon L. Snyder

Grandville Police Chief