Along with new procedures, the KPD has a new crop of supervisors to carry them out. One year after the scandal broke, virtually every leadership post in the department is in new hands. Former police chief Gerald Keller announced his retirement in January 2011; Tinti took over in November. Retirements among senior officers, meanwhile, opened up spots for three new lieutenants and three new sergeants. Tinti meanwhile has embarked on an ambitious program of community-oriented, proactive policing.
In the past, patrol officers spent most of their time responding to calls for service, taking reports and cruising around high-crime areas waiting for the radio or the sound of gunfire to alert them to crimes in progress. Detectives spent their days following up on complaints by interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence and reaching out to informants for information. All of those are still part of the daily routine for KPD cops. But now, cops are also expected to spend some time out of their cars passing out crime prevention literature, talking to citizens about a recent rash of car break-ins or simply stopping into businesses around their sector to ask merchants about conditions in the neighborhood.
New approaches
The new approach extends to communications between shifts and between the patrol and detective divisions. Shift supervisors are required to fill out a daily activity sheet, a form Tinti compares to a medical chart, to pass on to their relief. Detectives attend patrol division roll call to let beat cops know who and what they’re looking for and in turn solicit tips. A new Special Investigations Unit pairs up patrol cops and detectives to carry out proactive operations, staking out a corner based on complaints of drug sales, for example.
“We’re constantly asking ourselves, ‘Why are we doing it this way?’” said Tinti. “In the past the answer was, ‘Because this is the way we’ve always done it.’ Not anymore.”
KPD supervisors say the approach, which emphasizes officers taking the initiative and coming up with new ideas is already having an impact on morale. Police experts generally look at traffic tickets as a good indicator of productivity and morale. Cops rarely come across a crime in progress, but are unlikely to spend an entire shift without observing at least one illegal U-turn or blown red light. The question is whether they take action or let it slide while they wait for the next radio call. According to Tremper, day-shift cops have quadrupled their tickets.
Firefighters’ turn to sweat
While the KPD is emerging from the shadow left by the Matthews scandal, their fellow first responders at the Kingston Fire Department appear to be headed for troubled times of their own. Allegations of what Gallo terms “time and attendance issues” among senior departmental personnel have led to the resignation of chief Rick Salzmann and the suspension of his onetime deputy and replacement Chris Rea. This week, auditors from the same unit of the State Comptroller’s Office which investigated the KPD have arrived at City Hall to carry out a similar probe of the Fire Department. It is all ominously familiar to the men and women of the Kingston Police Department.
“I would just tell them to keep their heads up high and take the punches as they come,” replied Rell when asked how he would advise rank-and-file firefighters to deal with the coming storm. “When it’s all over, you’ll be a better person and the department will be better too.”
