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Lakewood police present annual report; cite lower property crime trends, drones, Flock cameras and retail-theft emphasis
Summary
Lakewood Police commanders reported declines in many crime categories, described new unmanned aerial systems and license-plate camera partnerships (Flock) and outlined a retail-theft emphasis operation that led to repeated arrests during patrol nights.
Captain Peter Johnson, patrol division commander for the Lakewood Police Department, gave the committee an overview of department staffing, response trends and several new crime-fighting tools.
"It's effectively a 0 cost," Captain Johnson said of the department’s unmanned aircraft training program that charges other agencies for classes and uses proceeds to buy equipment.
Johnson said the department recently reported improvements across most crime categories while collisions remained elevated; he told the committee the department handled about 3,324 property-crime investigations in the prior reporting period and roughly 50,000 calls for service overall. He said the department’s behavioral health contact team and a new member on that team support responses to mental-health related calls; he also said the city has about 220 adult family homes (a local figure cited by the captain).
The captain described an expansion of the department’s drone program, including teaching classes that fund equipment purchases and issuing first-person-view goggles to squad cars for building-search capability. He said Detective Austin Lee leads the unmanned aircraft systems program as a certified instructor and that the program has helped reduce risk during building searches and other operations.
On vehicle thefts and detection technology, Johnson reported a major turnaround after the department adopted a camera-based plate-reading service called Flock. "We were the first to get flock cameras in the area," he said, and described Flock's role at intersections and in partnership with private businesses to detect stolen vehicles and vehicles associated with warrants.
Johnson also detailed the department’s retail-theft emphasis nights, which pair undercover detectives, patrol officers and crime-prevention units with participating businesses; the operations, he said, have produced multiple arrests in single nights and been well received by merchants.
The department noted K-9 team changes, retirements and new certifications; a retired canine handler has returned to support court operations, and a new dog named Ares recently completed certification and was placed with Officer Anthony Bucat.
The presentation included outreach items such as the Citizens Academy, Shop with an Officer and partnerships with the school district for holiday meal and toy programs. Captain Johnson encouraged committee members to request the department’s annual report and to contact the police for more detailed data.
No formal committee action was taken on policing items during the meeting.
