The 5 Things to Know feature
has covered Fort Thomas entities from jewelers to hair dressers; from local
news programs to the businesses you frequent.
I wrote an article
about the lesser known facts of the Fort Thomas Fire Department, so it was only
fair that I contact the Fort Thomas Police Department to gather some interesting
details.
I reached out to Lieutenant Ken Fecher of the FTPD to gather
some information about our men in blue.
Ken was kind enough to respond with some of the most in depth, and interesting
facts I have gathered to date.
Here
are five things that you may not have known about your Fort Thomas Police
Department:
1.)
What
most people don’t know is just how long it takes to become a Fort Thomas police
officer. Once applications are received,
a written test is given to all applicants. These tests are graded and only the top 10 scoresmove on in the process.
From there a physical agility test is given, followed by a thorough
background investigation by our detectives, including a criminal history,
license check, credit screening report and interviews of neighbors, employers
and acquaintances along with a home interview with the applicant. Applicants that are still qualified at this
point are then sent to the police department hiring board for an
interview. From this point, the top
applicants are submitted to the City Council Safety Committee for one last
interview. Once the Safety Committee has
made their decision, a conditional offer is made and yet more testing takes
place. At this point the conditional
employee is required to pass a psychological exam, a polygraph examination,
physical exam and drug screen. The
entire process can take three to six months just to get to the police academy. All of our officers graduated
from 18 weeks of Police Academy training and have 14 weeks of field training
once back with the department. Each
officer must perform 40 hours of in-service training each year.
There are 23 police officers and one police clerk in the department and we are often
asked what type of person do you hire? Well,
there is no set model. We are quite a
diverse group. The Chief, 3 lieutenants
and 1 sergeant are all graduates of the FBI National Academy. 17 of us have college degrees and 3 of us
have a master’s degree and 3 are working towards a degree. Graduates are from Northern Kentucky
University, University of Cincinnati, Georgetown College, Eastern Kentucky
University, Centre College, Cincinnati State, College of Mount Saint Joseph,
Morehead State University, The University of Tampa and Ohio College. Study fields and degrees are in, Criminal
Justice, Police Administration, Aviation Administration, History, Economics,
Construction Management, Criminology, Geology, Public Administration, Political
Science, Social Work, Sociology and Spanish.
Officers also participate in a wide array of specialty task with the
department. There are 3 officers on the
Regional SWAT Team, 1 SWAT Sniper, 3 officers on the Major Accident
Reconstruction Team, 1 certified Accident Reconstructionist, 3 Crime Scene
Investigation Officers who are members of the County CSI team, 2 RAD
Instructors (Rape Aggression Defense), 2 detectives, and 1 Information and
Technology Officer.
Ages of officers range from 22 to 47 years of age. Current longest working officer has 23+ years
of service with Fort Thomas Police.
2.)
The Fort Thomas Police Department are the proud
owners of a genuine Thompson .45 Caliber machine gun, otherwise known as a
“Tommy Gun”. This gun is unique in that
it was given to the department back during the Newport Steel Plant Riots of
1921-1922, and it was given to us by Mr. John T. Thompson of Newport, who
invented the gun in 1919. From what we
have been able to uncover, Newport police received 6 of these weapons, Campbell
County Police received 4 and Fort Thomas Police Received 2. Our Thompson is the sole surviving gun out of
the 10 as all others were traded away for other departmental needs over the
years. Our Thompson still has the
classic 50 round drum barrel and is in complete working condition. It is on display at the Fort Thomas Police
Department.
3.)
Did you know, that as many as 9 out of 10 thefts
that take place from vehicles, and theft of vehicles in Fort Thomas happen
because they were left unlocked? The
majority of these crimes are thefts of opportunity, most often at night, because
the common thief will go through a neighborhood and pull door handles. All too often the unlocked cars also have
valuables left out in plain view and some even have the keys left in the car. In a series of stolen cars a couple years
ago, every car stolen was unlocked and had the keys left in it. Securing your property
is the number one precaution that can be taken to reduce theft.
4.)
In 2012 the Ford Crown Victoria was no longer
available as an option for a police specific sedan as Ford discontinued the
model. Fort Thomas conducted a study of
the various police cruisers that were available. Ford presented their new Interceptor, a police
specific sedan based on the Ford Taurus frame, the Chevrolet Caprice and the
Dodge Charger. Officers test drove,
evaluated, and rated all three vehicles.
The hands down winner was the Dodge Charger. Better yet, it was the least expensive
vehicle even with an 8 cylinder engine.
The Charger offered a wide array of features and equipment that made it by far
the best choice. We chose the 8 cylinder
model because Fort Thomas does not have a take home cruiser fleet. Our cruisers run longer and harder than those
with home fleet. Although by looking at
it, the Charger would not appear to be the best fit, most comfortable and
provide the best visibility, but it does.
We felt by comparison that it had the best computer aided handling and
traction control, power train, and factory pre-setup to become a police cruiser
was the best we’ve seen in decades.
Internally we added the hands-free phone option and connectivity package
which allows officers hands free usage of a smart phone while in operation.
The acquisition of the Charger also changed how we upfit the car into a Fort
Thomas Police Cruiser. A lot of internal
changes had to be made as old equipment which was reused for years in the Crown
Victoria’s was due for replacement.
Police cruisers do not come from the factory with stripe packages in
place or with internal specialty equipment.
For years we paid to send the new cruisers out to someone who upfit them
with the sirens, the radios, lights, and much more. With the purchase of the 2012 Charger we
upfit the cruiser ourselves except for the striping package. All installation work was done by Detective
Brent Moening and Lt. Ken Fecher with guidance from the City’s own staff
mechanic.
5.)
In a one year period, the Fort Thomas Police
respond to an average of almost 17,000 calls for service. In 2012 we performed 5683 area and business
checks, made 625 vacation checks, made 2896 traffic stops, issued 401 speeding
citations, issued 109 seat belt violations, wrote 1755 written traffic warnings,
responded to 425 automobile accidents, made 92 DUI arrests, made 43 other
alcohol related charges, and made 156 drug charges.
These are just the highlights of our statistics. For a full look at our statistics, you can
look to our Annual Report located on the Police web site http://www.ftthomas.org/Police The 2012 Annual Report will be available
after presentation to City Council in late March.
The process to become a police officer in Fort Thomas is
rigorous and demanding. After it’s all
said and done, it is clear that only the very best are awarded the honor of
calling themselves a member of the FTPD.
Get to know your service men and women, and the next time you see one of
these faces, let them
know how much you appreciate their service.
Special thanks to Lieutenant Ken Fecher for compiling the
information for this article.