By Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
July 1, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — A civilian ride-along with the Kansas City Police Department can be an amazingly eye opening experience.

Riding along with Jason Cooley, East Patrol’s Community Information Officer, however, is both eye opening and exhausting. After an early morning roll call with some of the East Patrol day shift officers, Cooley is off to visit a homeless camp along the 3700 block of Independence Avenue that had been giving area residents problems. After some phone calls to key neighborhood leaders and city codes officers about the situation, it’s off to headquarters for a meeting with command staff. Lunch is on the fly while in route to a problem area along the 27th Street corridor near Blue Valley Park. More phone calls, some text messages to the city’s illegal dumping officer as his police radio crackles. Cooley answers a call for service, assisting a district unit with a car stop along I-435 near 23rd Street.

As the clock approaches 4 p.m. and the PM’s crew hits the street, Cooley calls his wife at home and relays that he’ll be late for dinner. Again. Another community meeting at an area church where residents are concerned about a series of break-ins. At roughly 7:30 pm, Officer Jason Cooley gets in his department issued Ford Crown Victoria and heads home. Another 13-hour day in the books.

For most people, the grueling schedule would be a deal breaker. But according to Cooley, a 23 year veteran and second generation Kansas City Mo., police officer, he’s got the best gig in the department.

Last week, that gig got even better. The Missouri Peace Officers Association awarded the 2015 Hank Johnson Officer of the Year award to officer Jason Cooley. The Hank Johnson Officer of the Year award is given annually by the MPOA as recognition to law enforcement officers who routinely go above and beyond in their day-to-day policing activities. The 2014 recipient was Corporal Lance D. DeClue with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Corporal DeClue, along with another trooper, were instrumental in a number of dangerous water rescues during a flash flood in August 2013 in the Waynesville, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., area. Officer Cooley was awarded his plaque at an annual Missouri Combined Law Enforcement Conference at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Lake of the Ozarks on Monday, June 29.

The Henry “Hank” Johnson Officer of the Year award is named for Officer Henry “Hank” Johnson, a Kansas City Mo., police officer who was the department’s first Mounted Traffic Control Officer in 1924, riding a horse as part of his daily duties. With no formal law enforcement training, Johnson rose through the ranks and became the head of the department’s Traffic Control Unit. After seeing combat action in WWII, he returned to Kansas City and rose to the rank of Chief of Police. Johnson retired as Chief in 1956 and continued to serve the Missouri Police Officers Association [MPOA] for over 30 years as the organization’s Secretary-Treasurer.

Upon getting word of the award, Cooley offered his trademark wry smile and did what he does best, went right back to work in some of Kansas City’s toughest neighborhoods, creating engagement opportunities for residents and the police officers who serve the East Patrol community. Cooley, who’s father John was East Patrol’s Community Relations Officer in the 1980’s and 1990’s, in typical fashion, downplayed the announcement.

“I’m extremely humbled and honored,” he said. “These district officers though, the ones out here on the bricks, answering calls for service, there’s a lot more officers out there that are more deserving than I and it will be shared with them.”

Leslie Caplan, Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association President, lauded officer Cooley for his passionate community work.

“Jason is such an outstanding resource for our neighborhood,” Caplan said. “He goes above and beyond, he truly cares about the residents here and our neighborhood is a better place for it.”

Major Rick Smith, East Patrol’s Commander who nominated Cooley for the award, has high praise for Cooley, as well.

“Jason’s contribution to the community is quite literally above and beyond,” Smith said. “His interaction with people is fantastic. He absolutely knows the right hat to wear at the right time. He takes community policing to a whole new level. He’s an extremely important part of the work we do at East Zone.”