Covington Police Department (Kentucky)

The Covington, Kentucky Police Department, located in Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky, is charged with law enforcement services for a city of 40,640, encompassing 13.7 square miles (35 km²) in northern Kenton County. Lead by current Police Chief Lee Russo, and Assistant Chief Michael Jones, the deparmtment has developed the mission to: Reduce Crime; Reduce the Fear of Crime; Call Offenders to Account; Ensure Safety in Public Spaces; Use Resources Fairly, Efficiently and Effectively; Provide Excellent Customer Service.

History

Created in 1856, the department has grown to 110 sworn officers operating divided over 5 divisions, or bureau's. Currently housed at Central Police Headquarters, located at 1 Police Memorial Drive and Madison Avenue, the Covington Police strive to demonstrate integrity, professionalism, justice and compassion in policing the 5th largest city in Kentucky.

Organization

Patrol bureau

The patrol bureau is the largest of the department’s five bureaus employing over 60% of the department’s sworn personnel. It is functionally divided into three shifts providing round-the-clock police response to calls for service from throughout the community. Each shift is commanded by a lieutenant with the aid of three sergeants. In response to the diverse needs of the community, the patrol bureau also employs officers in a variety of specialty positions including bicycle patrol, canine patrol, and traffic officers. In order to support internal requirements for training newly hired police officers, the patrol bureau also employs a number of field training officers.

Crime investigations bureau

The Criminal Investigations Bureau (CIB) handles all felony crimes and other investigations in the City of Covington. Detectives can be assigned cases after a patrol officer forwards an initial report, or detectives may have responded out to the initial call. Detectives are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Criminal Investigations Bureau, currently staffed with nine detectives, has four sub-divisions: Major Crimes, General Investigations, Family Abuse, and the Crime Scene Unit. Major Crimes comprise homicide, robbery and rape investigations. General Investigations comprise assault, property crimes, missing persons, financial crimes, and arson investigations. Family Abuse comprises juvenile crime, domestic violence and crimes against family investigations. The Crime Scene Unit is comprised of 3 Crime Scene Investigators. They assist officers at crime scenes by photographing, preserving, collecting, processing, packaging and transporting evidence. The Crime Scene Unit uses cutting edge technology to obtain valuable evidence in the investigation of the crime scene. That cutting edge technology includes AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System), Alternate Light Sources, Ultra-Violet Light, Superglue, Luminol, Digital Photography.

Administrative Support Bureau

The Administrative Support Bureau provides a broad range of administrative services needed to sustain police operations. Among the most critical duties assigned to the bureau are: recruiting and hiring of personnel; facilities maintenance for all police facilities including the headquarters building and the vehicle impound lot; procurement, accountability, maintenance, and replacement of all equipment from uniforms to office furniture to vehicles; scheduling personnel for basic and annual in-service training through the Department of Criminal Justice Training; recording all training provided by a myriad of external training sources; conducting recurring and mandatory in-house training including weapons qualifications; and managing the department accreditation process.

Records and Technology Bureau

The Records and Technology Bureau is comprised of three main components including the telecommunications center, the records section, and a coordinator for the agency’s information/technology needs.

The telecommunications center is staffed 24 hours per day, 365 days per year by fourteen professional, well-trained, and highly experienced telecommunicators. They direct landline and cellular calls for service to the appropriate end point for prompt delivery of the required service. To accomplish their mission, these telecommunicators operate a variety of highly sophisticated electronic equipment including radio and telephone consoles, crime information terminals, and computer aided dispatching (CAD) equipment. In 2009 they received over 167,000 9-1-1 calls resulting in nearly 11,000 fire/ambulance CAD entries and over 78,000 police CAD entries.

The records section, is staffed from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, by four full-time and one part-time clerk. These professionals are dedicated to providing prompt, courteous service to all our internal and external customers including the citizens of Covington, news gathering organizations, insurance companies, courts, attorneys, other law enforcement agencies, and anyone else who has a vested interest in the information collected through the course of policing. The information link they provide enables other public and private entities to serve the best interests of Covington’s residents and its visitors. Sergeant Trenkamp also serves as the agency’s information/technology coordinator. He is responsible for purchasing and maintaining a host of computers along with computer hardware and software to support the policing mission in this increasingly technical world.

Strategic Services Bureau

The Bureau of Strategic Service is the Department’s specialized community outreach unit. The unit strives to achieve effective crime prevention by educating the community in ways they can reduce their odds of being targeted by criminal activity. This includes organizing and attending monthly block watch meetings, performing public presentations and performing environmental analysis. The unit has several officers specializing in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (C.P.T.E.D.). These officers conduct site surveys for businesses, residences, and public areas and determine the best environmental layout to minimize the potential for criminal activity. Officers in the unit also utilize bike patrol, uniformed patrol, and covert operations to accomplish maximum officer presence and accessibility in high crime areas.

Line of duty deaths

• Officer Michael Anthony Partin

EOW: Sunday, January 4, 1998 Cause: Drowned

• Patrolman Donald Ronnebaum

EOW: Friday, July 26, 1968 Cause: Struck by vehicle

• Patrolman Cleophus Eifert

EOW: Friday, February 8, 1946 Cause: Gunfire

• Patrolman Harry Rose

EOW: Thursday, November 10, 1938 Cause: Motorcycle accident

• Patrolman Neil Regan

EOW: Friday, November 11, 1932 Cause: Gunfire

• Patrolman Benjamin F. Law

EOW: Monday, January 5, 1925 Cause: Gunfire

• Patrolman David B. Rogers

EOW: Sunday, May 13, 1923 Cause: Motorcycle accident

• Patrolman Frank Duncan

EOW: Friday, June 19, 1908 Cause: Gunfire

• Patrolman Frank Duncan

EOW: Friday, June 19, 1908 Cause: Gunfire

• Patrolman William McQuerry

EOW: Tuesday, June 12, 1900 Cause: Gunfire

• City Marshal John T. Thompson

EOW: Sunday, February 28, 1869 Cause: Gunfire

External links

• [1]
• [2]

References