CITY OF BLUE SPRINGS, MISSOURI

POLICE DEPARTMENT

MEDIA ADVISORY

1100 SW Smith Street Blue Springs, MO 64015 — Phone: 816.228.0150 Fax: 816.228.0147

Website: http://www.bluespringsgov.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Blue Springs Missouri Police Department News

Two Blue Springs home owners have become the victims of an unscrupulous business by pre-paying for new roofs, but then the work was never done. On July the 13^th and the 14^th the victims were contacted by a person alleging that he represented American Shingle. The representative told each of the victims that they needed new roofs and he offered the services of American Shingle. The sales person told each victim that they needed to pre-pay the entire amount of the job up front before the work could be started. The total loss between both victims is over $9,700.00. Both checks were cashed and they have not seen anyone from American Shingle since.

Both cases are being investigated by the Blue Springs Police Department’s Investigations unit. If you have any information that would assist with these investigations, please call the Police Department at 816-228-0150.

Blue Springs Police Chief Wayne McCoy notes that you should be cautious about pre-paying for services in advance. While some legitimate businesses do require a down payment on large jobs, too often it can mean that there is a potential for loss with the work never getting done. Please check sources to verify that a business is legitimate; going on-line to search often yields surprising results.

If you have become a victim of a similar theft please notify your local Police Department along with the local office of the Missouri Attorney General.

The City of Blue Springs, Missouri and the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District (CJCFPD) have contracted with Emergency Communications Network to license its CodeRED high-speed notification solution. The CodeRED system provides officials the ability to quickly deliver messages to targeted areas or the entire covered region. This service is available to all Blue Springs residents and those covered in the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District.

Blue Springs Police Chief Wayne McCoy, cautioned that such systems are only as good as the telephone number database supporting them. "If your phone number is not in the database, you will not be called." One of the reasons the CodeRED system was selected is it gives individuals and businesses the ability to add their own phone numbers directly into the system's database, this is an extremely important feature.

“No one should automatically assume his or her phone number is included,” McCoy said urging all residents and businesses to visit either the City of Blue Springs Website, www.bluespringsgov.com/codered or the CJCFPD Website, www.cjcfpd.org/codered, and follow the instructions on the site. Those without Internet access may call the CodeRED hotline at (816) 220-CODE (2633) to supply their information over the phone. Required information includes first and last name, street address (physical address, no P.O. boxes), city, state, zip code, and primary phone number, additional phone numbers can be entered as well.

All businesses are encouraged to register, as well as all individuals who have unlisted phone numbers, who have changed their phone number or address within the past year, and those who use a cellular phone or VoIP phone as their primary number.

Central Jackson County Fire Protection District Fire Chief Steven P. Westermann explained, "CodeRED allows geographically based delivery, which means street addresses are required to ensure emergency notification calls are received by the proper individuals in a given situation. The system works for cell phones too, but we need to have an associated street address to provide relevant messages."

Westermann stated, "CodeRED gives those who want to be included an easy and secure method for inputting information. The data collected will only be used for emergency notification purposes."

For more information about the CodeRED system, please contact Kim Nakahodo, Communications Manager at (816) 655-0497.
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Blue Springs Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni Association

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bowling for Bikes and Bullets Fundraiser

On Sunday, May 16, 2010, the Blue Springs Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association will be hosting a fundraiser at Lunar Bowl in Blue Springs from 2-5pm. Money is being raised to donate a fully equipped patrol bicycle from Bike Stop to the Blue Springs Police Department Bike Patrol, as well as funding for additional ammunition for the Citizen’s Police Academy range days.

Tickets for the event are on sale through Alumni Association members at $20/per person for unlimited bowling during the event. In addition we are seeking sponsors in the amount of $100 for the event that will receive recognition through company advertisements placed at the bowling lanes at Lunar Bowl. Already we have received tremendous response from the community and sponsors currently include: Clearlakes Insurance Agency, LLC, 3 Suns Cruise & Tours, Zuvers Real Estate, Autumn Place Apartments, Ad Trends, Inc, Leader 1 Financial, Ox Construction, All Right Heating & Cooling, Butterfly Stitches Embroidery & Quilting, Lunar Bowl, and Kwik Kopy. Other businesses have donated items to be used for a raffle, silent auction, and door prizes that will also take place.

Since the beginning of the first Citizen’s Police Academy in the fall of 2008, the graduates of the program have been actively involved in volunteering their time and resources to support the police department in whatever way they can. As an organization we seek to develop, promote, and improve a partnership between the police department and the community, as well as provide education in law enforcement issues, crime prevention, and public safety to the general public. We have recently filed for 501(c)3 non-profit tax exempt status with the federal government, and hope that this fundraiser will be the first of many to be used as a tool to complete our intent of advocating for public safety needs.

It is our hope that all members of the community might be willing to partner with the Alumni Association as we support the police department. Feel free to check out our website at www.bscpa.org for more information, or contact us by email info@bscpa.org.

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The Blue Springs Annual Police Officer Memorial recognizes those who have lost their lives in law enforcement. This special memorial service is hosted by the Blue Springs Police Department to honor those men and women. This year it will be held Friday, May 14th @ 2pm at the Howard Brown Public Safety Building in Blue Springs.  It is open to the public and is quite a tribute.  Please plan to attend and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep all of us safe!

Honored Monday evening for their service to the Blue Springs community, outgoing Councilmen Sheila Solon, Lyle Shaver and Sissy Reed each received a clock commemorating their service, along with proclamations from the city, the county and the state legislature.

Each councilman spoke briefly, remarking on the positive and negative aspects of public service. Sissy Reed, who leaves after 17 years on the council, expressed her gratitude to city staff and to the many friends she made while in office. These transitional City Council meetings are a wonderful opportunity to honor those leaving office, while welcoming the newly elected.

Former Mayor Grounds spoke briefly about each outgoing councilmen, commenting, “Sometimes when you vote, everybody is not going to like you.” It takes special people with a passion for our community to serve, knowing that the decisions they make will not always be popular. I would like to join with Mayor Ross and County Legislator Grounds in thanking former Councilmen Lyle Shaver, Sissy Reed, and Sheila Solon for their service to our community.

The city clerk, Kathy Richardson, then swore in the three new councilmen. They join with the remaining councilmen to represent the citizens as they govern our community’s future. We have an obligation to communicate with them, keeping them informed regarding our thoughts and opinions on important issues they will face. Mayor Ross reminded everyone Monday evening that, “You never learn anything by talking.” Our new councilmen are ready to listen, learn and take action to achieve the desired results.

Following the meeting, I spoke with each of our new councilmen and found them to be excited about their opportunity to serve. Dale Carter spoke of his desire to encourage a pro-business attitude and to continue to work on bringing tax revenue back into the city. Chris Lievsay spoke of his passion to improve public safety and to focus on Woods Chapel and downtown redevelopment. Grant Bowerman spoke about the humbling experience of meeting the citizens in his district and visiting with them at their homes. He is eager to work on developing new business opportunities and ensure that our police officers have the best and most current technology available.

The potential of this new council is exciting. Such a diverse group will bring an expansive range of ideas, while working collaboratively and positively. Contact information for all of the Blue Springs City Councilmen is available at http://bit.ly/bscc2010 It is an honor to have the opportunity to know these new community leaders, and I encourage you to communicate with them on issues of importance to you.

Stop for a moment and think about the city services paid for with our tax dollars. Most of us give little thought to the services our city provides that enhance the quality of our lives.

Really, when you think about it that is exactly the way it should be. When the services we need are readily available, we tend to take them for granted. Our city provides a long list of community services. Basic items include water, sewer, streets, lights, parks and police.

Recently, Wanda and I graduated from the Citizen’s Police Academy. We were participants in the “Fifth Element” class, a name the class gave ourselves to designate that we were the fifth class to complete the program. This program, conceived by Chief Wayne McCoy in response to recent citizen surveys and supported by City Administrator Eric Johnson and Mayor Carson Ross, provides each of us the opportunity to learn about our police department and the services it provides to make each of us safer. It also instructs us on ways we can help to make our police department even more effective by providing citizen support.

The classes include training on report writing, evidence collection, courtroom procedures and building search techniques. Demonstrations of the capabilities of our tactical team (STAT), K-9 officer and bike patrol are also part of the training. Participants get the opportunity to study real-life threat situations in the Fire Arms Training Simulator at Metropolitan Community College-Blue River and to receive first-hand firearms training on a live firing range. Upon completion of the coursework, participants will have completed the training to receive a concealed carry weapon permit. Additionally, each student participates in a ride-along with an officer.

I am proud to have completed the course and to live in a city that has such dedicated professionals. At our graduation, we shared our favorite memory of the classes. The common thread was a realization that our Police Department personnel love their jobs and work hard to serve our community professionally and respectfully.

If I have piqued your interest, consider attending the academy. Contact Sgt. Allen Kintz at (816) 220-4576 to have your name placed on the waiting list. There is also a new Youth Police Academy beginning on April 13 for youth ages 14 to 18. Contact Officer Doug Heishman at 228-0178 or go to www.bscpa.org for more information on this new class.

The Blue Springs Citizens Police Academy consists of a nine-week course designed to give residents an inside look at how the Police Department operates. Wanda and I are participating in the academy together this winter and have found it to be an enjoyable experience. This past weekend, I had the privilege of riding along with one of our officers and participating in a “normal” day with a Blue Springs police officer.

One consistent area of concern on our citizen surveys has been the visibility of officers in our neighborhoods. As a City Council member, I received numerous calls from constituents who wanted to know why they “never” saw our police in their neighborhood. During my ride-along, we visited many subdivisions multiple times during our shift, patrolling the streets and neighborhoods. I find it comforting to know that our police officers are actively watching out for us and are nearby when we call for help.

In addition to general patrolling and the occasional traffic ticket, we also responded to several dispatched calls: a domestic disturbance case of a woman and her soon to be ex-husband who had violated a full order of protection; a few teenagers who had broken a bench in front of a store by jumping on it with their skateboards. We reminded the juveniles of the skate parks built for such purposes, and the store owner did not choose to press charges. We listened over the scanner to a “pants on the ground” incident regarding a customer in Wal-Mart that had a problem with droopy drawers, all in a day’s work.

Finally, I had the opportunity to observe as our officers tried to serve a felony warrant to an individual wanted on multiple DWI charges. The professionalism exhibited by our officers as they approached the house and talked with the occupants was impressive and reinforced my high opinion of our police force.

The Citizen’s Police Academy is open to all residents of Blue Springs, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about our Police Department. If you have questions or want to participate in one of the classes, contact the crime prevention supervisor, Sgt. Allen Kintz, at (816) 228-0178 or akintz@bluespringsgov.com.