At a brief February meeting of the Southgate city council, Police Chief John Christmann shared the annual police report covering his department’s activities in 2023.
He emphasized the many avenues of training officers took over the course of the year, including two who trained to be certified by the FAA to fly the department’s drone. He also noted the city experienced no murders or armed robberies and no traffic fatalities in 2023.
What’s new: drones and license readers
The department partnered with the VFW to purchase the new police drone, the chief noted. Sergeant Danny Johns and Specialist Garrett Haynes took the drone pilot course and are now certified drone pilots. The training was intense and is basically an airplane pilot’s license course, he said.
“The drone is a DJI Mavic 3 pro drone with remote control. It would easily fit on the desk…We also are willing and able to use it for the Fire Department, for Public Works or surrounding departments in Northern Kentucky who might need a drone,” said Christmann. “Our newest thing is the Flock Safety license plate readers. We have now have two of the them, cameras installed.”
The device only records the license plate number, and then officers could use the data to search for a car if needed, he explained.
“We’ve already used it to recover a stolen vehicle…We’ve actually tracked a murder suspect who committed a murder in Covington…who happened to come into into Southgate. So, they’re a valuable investigation tool, very interactive. We are now just waiting for approval from the Transportation Cabinet to get the other three up because they would be in the traffic right of way.”
He said in the future, he would like to approach homeowner associations and apartment manager companies to partner with the department to expand the license plate reader to help protect areas around their buildings and parking areas.
Some highlights
Here are a few other highlights from his report:
- All officers, including part-timers, must take 40 hours of training each year. Christmann outlined what training he and each of his officers took. Those in leadership took supervisory and legal update courses. Chief Christmann took the police command course and is heavily involved with the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police and county police organizations.
- The department sent two new officers, Charlie Boeschenstein and Nate Snyder, to the police academy in Richmond for 20 weeks of training before doing eight additional weeks of field training upon return to Southgate. Both are now patrolling.
- Other officers took training on interrogation and investigation, property room management, hiring processes, arson investigation and police rifle. All the officers are required to review and study police policies and procedures throughout the year to be up-to-date with any changes.
- Required by House bill 298 every two years, officers take a driving course online. The officers must also be certified to administer breathalyzer tests.
- The Kentucky League of Cities provides a training simulator in Newport for the officers. It’s a large screen on-wall interactive device that simulates different scenarios. The device is very interactive, very practical and very useful, Christmann said.
- All officers are required to qualify for firearms, on duty, off duty in both day and low light situations, he said. They use the police firing range at the airport. Each officer is also qualified in less lethal equipment (beanbag projectile).
- The department sponsored a taser instructor course, and two officers took courses to become certified in providing taser training.
- The department is a member of the Northern Kentucky Police and Sheriffs Training Center. Although the center has a limited number of courses, they took advantaged of the offerings whenever possible, because it avoids having to send personnel to Richmond and saves on travel and hotel costs, the chief noted.
- All police cruisers are equipped with AEDs (automated external defibrillators). All also carry NARCAN for overdoses.
- Police dog Cody, a male German Shepherd, is now six years old. He and his partner Haynes, were recently recertified in tracking and narcotics.
Some stats
Christmann shared a few statistics from the previous year.
“We’ve had no homicides, no robberies and no arsons, no shootings at all in calendar year 2023,” he said.
He listed crimes the department took reports on: One rape, three assaults, 17 larcenies and 12 vehicle thefts (all but two have been recovered). Traffic collisions and injuries from crashes have stayed about the same over the past three years, and there were no fatal crashes in the last year.
“We had 112 arrests in 2022. We had 170 arrests in 2023. We served several more warrants this year, and that obviously increased our total arrests,” he said.
Citations increased dramatically in 2022 and stayed about the same in 2023. Christmann said having an ex-state trooper on board as well as two new officers, he expects that to continue. The department handled 4,300 police calls overall. This number is down from 4,500 calls in 2022, but disturbance calls, parking complaints, suspicious vehicles, and assistance to other agencies went up, the chief noted.
Christman also touted the benefits of the Nixle app. It is a free public safety and community event alerts program for citizens. Participants can customize what alerts they receive and whether they get them via emails or text messages.
“It’s an easy way for the police or the fire department to say there’s a gas or water main break, or road closure or anything like that. We utilize it quite frequently…I want to spread the word Nixle is a great tool…Right on the city website, you can go to the link and sign up for it. And once again, it’s 100% free,” Christmann said.
To sign up, see the “Stay connected” form on the Southgate Police Department website.
Mayor Jim Hamberg thanked the chief for the report, praising the officers and noting Southgate has one of the most experienced police departments in the region.