Comments on The Overland Examiner: Overland Mayoral Candidates

I honestly cannot see how a trailer that is going ...

2007-05-25T12:58:00.000-05:00

I honestly cannot see how a trailer that is going to be used possibly 8-10 times a year by the police department is better than terminals in the police cars (and the authorization to use them) that would be used at least 8-10 times a day, per car.

Now, a mobile office trailer for the city could be used by the police department on those extremely rare occasions in Overland when a crime scene would merit it (though I still think the supervisory staff could just sit in a car to talk), be used by the police as well as the city for all the annual events, and be available to use for a host of other things if it was purchased by and owned by the City and not the City P.D. As I said before, if asset forfeiture money is used to buy this thing, it's use will have to be limited to the Police Department, and I just don't see nearly enough need for it there alone.

If public safety is the priority than spending the money on computer terminals in all the patrol cars should beat a marginally useful trailer hands down.

In car computers cost$1,400 installed with wireles...

2007-05-25T12:12:00.000-05:00

In car computers cost$1,400 installed with wireless modems through Nextell, they included cellular phone/walkie talkies.

We give our officers the right to make an arrest, give them a gun, take a life, inflict injury the ability to take away one's freedom. Yet these same officers can't go to the station and run a simple computer inquiry into a person criminal past, any current wanteds, who his associates are, get issues on license plates, find out whowhose license is suspended.

The only ones who are allowed to do that are civilian dispatchers, detectives and Lts and above.

Computers in their cars, they'll be lucky if they don't have buy their own notebooks.

The ability to realize what's going on around the officers are required to have ears, maybe they'll the sirens.

That trailer will mighty comfotable watching the fireworks show for the Command Staff and invited guest of privedge. PS Ken I doubt if you'll be invited, sorry.

I would have to assume the Chief would know that p...

2007-05-25T08:40:00.000-05:00

I would have to assume the Chief would know that particular attempt to fix it did not pass. Maybe he was expressing hope that the legislature found a way to fix this issue in the future.

However, my concern is that even if it was a mistake that will be corrected in the future the current law is still the current law. I hope the Police Department is following the new law and paying the officers for the additional Overtime because I would hate to see any additional labor or wage lawsuits result. However, we have some excellent officers in Overland and I imagine they are understanding of the situation.

I also have other concerns about the OPD. One of them is the lack of computer terminals in the police cars (like the terminals found in the some Community Fire District Vehicles). In many, if not most, communities the police officers have computer terminals in their vehicles that allow them to run license plate checks, wants and warrants, etc, all from the car. It is my understanding that currently they can only get this information via dispatch or the office. I imagine this results in a backlog and delays at times. The problem I see with this is that often by the time the officer gets the information back, the car they are following could be out of Overland.

Add to that the issue the problem that the police radio system as I understand it does not allow for the officers to communicate via any mutual aid frequencies to other communities. In the example above, that would mean an the officer would not be able to tell officers in a neighboring community that he just got a hit for a murder warrant or what not on a car that left Overland and entered their town. They would again have to go though dispatch.

I have heard from several residents about delays getting tough to the Overland PD. I have to wonder if this isn't caused by these limitations which I'd imagine adds a ton to the dispatch workload.

At this budget meeting, the OPD budget is looking to spend money from asset forfeiture on an Police Command trailer. The problem with this is that asset forfeiture funds can only be spent on police equipment, yet a mobile office like trailer would be as much, if not more of a benefit to City Hall as it would be to the Police Department.

I would rather see the City look at purchasing a City of Overland Trailer that could be available to the police department, but also to all of the other City Departments and have the Asset Forfeiture money go towards upgrading communications . In my opinion, doing this would make our officers safer and more efficient and would reduce the work load on our dispatchers which could reduce the hold times and the like for residents calling for police help.

Frankly, the priorities seem a bit off to me.

The House adjourned on May 18th, 2007. It was dea...

2007-05-25T02:07:00.000-05:00

The House adjourned on May 18th, 2007. It was dead when he spoke about it.

This issue was mentioned at the Budget Workshop me...

2007-05-24T22:33:00.000-05:00

This issue was mentioned at the Budget Workshop meeting, but when the Chief mentioned it, he said he hoped the state legislature would fix it. Did this issue die in the state legislature before that meeting or after it?

As for the meeting itself I would like to apologize for the delay in getting our coverage of it online. We've had several problems with the video file and we are still trying to correct it.

I have been waiting to post my assessment of the meeting until the video is able to be presented. There are a few more angles to try but if they don't pan out I will post the article without the video.

As you might know, last November, Missouri voters ...

2007-05-24T16:12:00.000-05:00

As you might know, last November, Missouri voters approved a Constitutional Amendment which increased Missouri’s minimum wages to $6.50 per hour. This new law had an unanticipated effect which created a forty hour workweek applicable to police and fire fighters arguably requiring overtime to be paid for hours worked in excess of forty per seven-day period. You may also recall this generated a great deal of publicity in January when police and fire departments statewide became aware of the financial toll this new provision would take.

Legislation was subsequently introduced intending to modify the law so that police and fire departments would be entitled to calculate overtime pursuant to the historic 28-day work period approved by the federal government and found in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This legislation was ultimately unsuccessful and died at the end of the session last week. Is the City in compliance with this, if not was it addressed at the Budget Workshop?

In the " be careful what you ask for" category I r...

2007-05-24T13:36:00.000-05:00

In the " be careful what you ask for" category I recently contacted Topix, a website that aggregates news articles from a multitude of sources sources. Topix pulls news about communities to community pages like their page for Overland, MO..

Though I appreciate the fact that they have been including articles from The Overland Examiner I contacted them to ask if there was a way for the page to address the various news feeds as all too often I find articles listed there that have nothing to do with Overland.

There answer reminded me of my time in the Navy. You complain, you fix it. So, as of now, I am the Editor of that page. Hopefully I will be able to keep the news feeds on track a bit more. However no one is perfect, so if you see an Overland News story out on the net that is not appearing there please email me about it and include a link to the story so I can get it added.

Suzyjax I considered that, but I didn't wa...

2007-05-23T19:30:00.000-05:00

Suzyjax I considered that, but I didn't want to give an "unfair" advantage, or more to the point, the perception of one.

Beginning next week I'll be contacting each of the candidates seeking a photo, contact information, campaign website / email information and perhaps a few short bullet points so that I can put together a list for our readers. Perhaps Councilperson Conlon will add the presentation, or at least some of the content to her campaign website. This way it is out there without creating any potential issues here.

Also, sorry about the delay in the video / article about last nights budget meeting. I expect to have the article online sometime tomorrow, a few technical annoyances and a host of errands got in the way today.

Regaridng the powerpoint at MBC's event. You coul...

2007-05-23T08:31:00.000-05:00

Regaridng the powerpoint at MBC's event. You could probably e-mail her and have her either provide this for you for your site or have her post it on her site (and you link to it).

Just an idea.