Wichita Police Chief talks successes, challenges and plans after first year

Published: Jan. 30, 2017 at 9:47 PM CST
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"In some ways it feels like a lifetime and in some ways it feels like a week."

Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay is already a recognizable face around the plains and he said that was intentional.

"A lot of our issues in policing revolve around relationships. It's very much, our work is relationship based," Ramsay said.

An advocate of community-policing, Ramsay calls those relationships one of his greatest successes during his first year on the job. He said that's how police departments become successful.

"I think our community outreach and our efforts to connect more with our community," Ramsay said when asked about his achievements in his first year. "In this time and age rather than pulling away from the community, we've really been focused more on getting out, going out of our way to build relationships and I think that's probably one of the bigger successes."

The chief said the First Steps BBQ, community meetings and providing security at several controversial rallies in Wichita are just some of the ways his department has shown it supports the people and the rights of everyone.

"We are public servants and it's important that the public knows we're there for them," he said.

That support has transitioned into staffing changes within WPD.

"We've added a Hispanic liason, LGBT liason. We've added an Hispanic Advisory Board. We created the God Squad, you know, and there's more. So we've done a lot to really focus on groups that have been marginalized in the past."

When asked why that's so important right now, Ramsay replied, "Well, we solve crime from tips from the public and when they trust the police and know that our motives are trustworthy, we get more tips and we solve crime. People feel safer when they know their police and feel confidence in their police."

The numbers speak too. Ramsay said although there were more murders in 2016 than in years prior, he said the solving rate of the Wichita Police Department is high.

"We had 31 in '15 we had 34 last year. Well they solved all but two last year. They solved all but one the year before," he said. "So those clearance rates are phenomenal for a city our size. The national average is anywhere from 40 percent on down. Chicago I think is at 20%."

Getting body cameras on all officers, changing the lights and sirens policy so officers can get to scenes faster and passing the nuisance ordinance are just a few of the many things Ramsay has had a part in changing in his year in office. He said he's getting support too.

"It's heartwarming how welcoming they've been, touching and we've done some great things," Ramsay said. "One of the best things for me is we have a very supportive mayor, city manager and council for me and what we've been trying to do so I think that will continue as things move forward."

So what's not working? Ramsay said outdated technology. To address that, he said he's working with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to get some new technology that can help reduce aggravated assaults, especially repeat offender crimes.

He gives an example.

"One of them is to track casings. Casings are like fingerprints. So when we collect shell casings from crime scenes, we put them into a machine, when we recover guns, we put them into a machine that's able to connect casings with a gun so you can solve a lot more crime that way," he said.

Ramsay said he also wants to address the appearance of the substations for officers and for the public.

"Our facilities are in bad shape," he said.

The substations have few lockers for officers and aren't appealing to the public. Ramsay said he wants state-of-the-art facilities so officers feel they're worth a respectable home away from home.

Ramsay said one of the biggest challenges for police is handling people with mental illnesses and he has a plan for that already working.

"Mental health right now is a big issue for us. We are the de facto first responders to mental, people in crisis and many times we're not the ideal people to be responding," he said. "Often times you don't need a gun and a badge to respond to someone in crisis. Sometimes that has turned out not so good."

Just last week, Ramsay said the department filed an application to get a grant from the US Department of Justice. He said it's a police grant that would allow WPD to hire three full time social workers to assist officers on calls.

Ramsay said they wouldn't respond to armed or extremely dangerous calls but they would be there to follow up with those individuals or to respond to calls that don't show an immediate threat. The chief said his officers just aren't trained for that and it's taking up a lot of their time.

He said the department should know in a month or two if it will get that grant and if so, it will partner with COMCARE to implement the three employees.

Ramsay said though he's tried to talk to as many Wichitans as possible, there are many he hasn't spoken with. He said he wants those people to know his department is doing it's best but officers are human.

"They have feelings and emotions and make mistakes like anybody else and to understand that we have good people but sometimes mistakes happen," he said.

As for his goal for the department overall, Ramsay said he wants Wichita to have the best police department in the country. Now that he's bought a house and moved his family here, he said he's here to make that happen.