By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
May 25, 2011

Consider them your new neighbor.

Beginning in August, Kansas City’s newest police academy graduates will patrol neighborhoods on foot, an unprecedented endeavor.

“It takes down a barrier,” said Kansas City Police Department’s Maj. Roger Lewis, who proposed the foot patrol project. “A police car, quite frankly, is a barrier. From a community policing standpoint, you remove that. You have officers that are walking down the street and speaking to everyone they encounter.”

After reading a study on foot patrolling in Philadelphia, Penn., Lewis proposed the idea to Deputy Chief Cy Ritter and Chief Jim Corwin.

“They’re the ones that gave me the blessing to proceed with trying to implement this project,” Lewis said.

Lewis called Philadelphia’s foot patrolling “intriguing” because of its high level of success. Philadelphia used brand new recruits to patrol the highest violent crime areas, implemented a smaller geographical area to patrol and patrolled the same area for 90 days.

“The study showed they reduced violent crime in those areas for the 90-day period they had officers on foot patrol, and that was significant,” Lewis said.

KCPD is modeling its foot patrol pilot program after Philadelphia’s and will choose four of the most crime ridden areas in Kansas City. Each area will include 15 intersections and 1.5 roadway miles.

The Kansas City Missouri Board of Police Commissioners will vote on the four areas during their May 25 meeting.

Sixteen recent police academy graduates will be assigned to foot patrol and will work in two shifts: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays from Aug. 1 to Oct. 31. Lewis stressed the graduates will serve as additional officers and regular patrolling will still continue.

“I want the decent and law abiding citizens that live and work in these areas to know the officers on a first name basis,” Lewis said of the foot patrol officers. “At the end of the 90 days, there shouldn’t be a single decent person that lives in the area that the officers haven’t either sat on their front porch or sat in their living room and had a glass of iced tea.”

As for criminals, there shouldn’t be one who doesn’t dread seeing a police officer walk around the corner, he said.

Another goal of foot patrolling is to help citizens feel more comfortable about “reaching out to the police” and reporting crimes or suspicious activities.

Asked if KCPD has utilized foot patrol in the past, Lewis said not to the same extent. KCPD has never used new recruits, and previous foot patrolling has consisted of choosing “hot spots” and patrolling those spots for one or two weeks until the issue is eradicated.

Although some question the use of brand new recruits, Lewis has faith in their ability.

“First of all, we need to give these officers a lot more credit than perhaps we want to,” he said. “I believe they have the ability to apply the great training they’ve received over the last 6 ½ months. I have the confidence they can do that. If we select the right areas, it will become very obvious to these inexperienced rookies who the good people are and who the bad people are.”

Using new recruits also provides a smooth transition and allows KCPD to keep officers in their current posts, he added.

“I want that unchartered drive and enthusiasm and go-getter type attitude to prove themselves,” Lewis said. “I think that’s an effective use of these new officers to give them an assignment that they know is groundbreaking.

“They’re going to be the first ones to set off on this adventure and that is the energy I’m looking for.”