Overland Park Police report more proactive activity, declines in reported crime and staffing updates

Police Chief Jo Kirst presented a condensed version of the Overland Park Police Department nnual report for 2024, detailing organizational structure, workload shifts, major investigations and personnel numbers.

Kirst said the Antioch (north-of-435) and Parkway (south-of-435) patrol divisions together recorded roughly 111,000 opportunities for officer contact (calls for service plus self-initiated activity). Antioch handled 25,733 patrol calls and 26,925 self-initiated activities; Parkway handled 27,165 calls and 31,900 self-initiated activities. Kirst highlighted a 22% increase in self-initiated events in Antioch and a 40% increase in self-initiated events in Parkway, alongside an overall 6% decrease in reported crime.

"The community is the police, and the police is the community," Kirst said, describing the department's community-policing foundation and evidence-based, proactive strategies that she said correlate with reductions in reported crime.

The report described several programmatic and capacity issues. The citywide OPCAT mobile-response team handled about 2,500 calls, relieved patrol officers of 632 calls and diverted 934 calls from patrol, according to Kirst. The school-resource-officer program made more than 22,000 student contacts across Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission districts and delivered classroom presentations. The property-and-evidence unit reported 8,600 submitted items and disposal of 10,000 items in 2024 and said it has used about 70% of available storage space.

Personnel and hiring: Kirst said the department is authorized for 278 commissioned officers and reported about 258 on the roster at the time of the meeting, with several recruits in academy or background stages. Professional staff authorization stands at 85 with three current vacancies. The personnel division attended 37 career fairs in 2024 and reported a 60% increase in applications.

Investigations and legal matters: the criminal investigations division led a multi-jurisdictional investigation into a surge of Dodge/Jeep vehicle thefts, resolving 32 cases that staff estimated involved $2,000,000 in stolen property and identifying 12 primary suspects and 40 co-conspirators. Kirst also described two "landmark" jury-trial convictions in July 2024 under a 2013 state law targeting distributors whose drugs resulted in fatal overdoses; the Johnson County District Attorney prosecuted the cases.

Victim services: Kirst said two full-time victim advocates provided services to more than 1,300 victims and survivors, making roughly 1,800 follow-up contacts and referrals.

Accountability and use-of-force statistics: the department recorded 32 complaints in 2024 (three related to incidents before 2024); of six bias-based complaints, four were unsubstantiated and two remained pending referral to the mayor-appointed bias board. Kirst said there were 336 response-to-resistance reports (0.3% of recorded contacts across patrol and self-initiated activities), with verbal direction and empty-hand control the most frequent categories.

Kirst also described accreditation work, policy reviews and the Office of Professional Standards' role in complaints and investigations. Committee members asked about property-room capacity, licensing and records requests; Kirst said records requests increased 18% in 2024 even while case reports decreased.

Ending: Kirst invited follow-up questions and said the department will continue to supply data to the committee and the public as recruitment, evidence storage and accreditation work proceed.