Lincoln Police Department
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The Lincoln Police Department (LPD) is the primary law enforcement agency for the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. With just over 300 police officers serving a population of 239,000 people and an area of 79 square miles, it has a considerably low police per capita rate with just 1.34 officers per 1,000 people (the average being 1.94), and a violent crime rate of 522 per 100,000 people. LPD is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies and was the first law enforcement agency in Nebraska to become accredited.
Lincoln Police Department headquarters are located in the City-County Building at 575 South 10th St., which is also the headquarters to the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office.
The current Chief of Police of the Lincoln Police Department is Thomas K. Casady.
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[edit] Organization
[edit] Command structure
The Lincoln Police Department is headed by a chief of police, who is appointed by the Mayor of Lincoln with approval by the Lincoln City Council. Below the chief are two assistant chiefs (A/C), one commanding the Operations Division and the other commanding the Support Division. Below the two A/C's are 15 Captains who command various departments within the agency.
[edit] Divisions
LPD is divided into two divisions, the Operations Division, and the Support Division.
The Operations Division is under the command of an A/C and is responsible for the following areas:
- Five patrol teams
- SWAT Team
- Traffic Unit
- Canine Unit
The Support Division is also under the command of an A/C and is responsible for the following areas:
- Records Unit
- Service Desk
- Payroll and Accounting
- Police Garage
- Information Management Services
- Property and Evidence Unit
- Education and Personnel Unit
- Victim/Witness Unit
- Forensics Unit
- Narcotics Unit
- Criminal Investigations Unit:
- Crime Analysis Unit
- Technical Investigations (Liquor, Vice, etc...)
- Family Crimes
- General Investigations
[edit] Patrol teams
LPD is divided into five separate teams making up Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Center.
Center Team has their own headquarters located at 27th and Holdrege St and is responsible for the downtown area of Lincoln. The newly built station provides an enhanced access point for the community. The station was built as a project to improve the North 27th St. area. The department's bike patrol operates out of the Center Team Station.
Each team (with the exception of Center Team) has several substations within their boundaries which allow officers to write reports, contact citizens and conduct additional investigations without returning to headquarters since for most teams would be a nuisance.
The department is equipped with four Canine (K-9) teams that operate on 2nd and 3rd shift and are assigned to four of the five team areas. K-9 teams have a variety of uses including: Tracking, extractions, scouting, drug detection and crowd control.
The Traffic Unit is commanded by a Sergeant and operates under the Operations Division. The six-member unit is responsible for traffic enforcement throughout the city and presenting traffic safety presentations to various community groups. The traffic unit issues 60% of the speeding citations issued department wide. Some traffic unit officers operate on police motorcycles.
[edit] Specialized units
LPD has several specialized units which perform distinctive functions within the department to battle certain criminal issues.
The Central Investigations Unit is commanded by a Captain and is responsible for assisting in conducting investigations that would require more than that of a police officer. Investigations include: Arson, Robbery, Burglary, Homicide (any case involving a death), etc...
The Technical Investigations Unit (TIU) is a part of Central Investigations and iscommanded by a Sergeant. TIU is responsible for investigating certain crimes including: Keno, Liquor, Vice, Computer Crimes, White Collar Crimes and Fraud. Other units within TIU include: Checks and Fraud Unit and the Family Crimes Unit.
The Narcotics Unit is an interagency task force composed of Officers from the Lincoln Police Department, Lancaster County Sheriff's Office and the University of Nebraska Police Department. The task force also works cooperatively with State and Federal agencies tasked with drug enforcement to impact mid and upper level drug traffickers. In 2005, the task force arrested 48 individuals on 67 federal drug counts. Those individuals are suspected to have taken part in over $13 million dollars worth of street drugs.
[edit] History
The first police force for the City of Lincoln was formed in July of 1870. The desire to create a police force started with the City Board. They were concerned with the waning morality among citizens of the community and felt there was an influx of naturally immoral and lawless elements coming from other cities. The police force was started with just three men: William Barber as a patrolman and Matthew Donahue and Charles Norton as watchmen. In 1871, A.E. Hastings was appointed Marshal of Lincoln. He also served as Street Commissioner, Fire Warden and was a member of the Board of Health. His salary was $180 a month, a sum which many thought was too much. The City Board in 1871 set salaries at $100 a month for the marshal and $2 a day for policemen. By 1885 the City Council had reduced the Marshal’s salary to $60 a month and increased the officer’s salaries to $55 a month. By 1913, the Chief was paid $1800 a year and an average police officer received $960 a year. Today, the starting income for a police officer is $38,000 a year.
In 1887, a Citizen’s Law and Order League was organized to fight corruption. This was formed when three citizens filed a complaint against Police Judge A.L. Parsons, alleging corruption. The council dismissed the judge. He appealed his dismissal to the U.S. Circuit Court in St. Louis, claiming the council had no jurisdiction. A Federal judge ordered the Lincoln Mayor and the council to appear in Omaha. They refused and were ordered to pay large fines. The mayor and council refused to pay the fines and were arrested and jailed for contempt. After spending a few hours in jail, they were taken to two luxurious hotel rooms for the remainder of their 6 day sentence. They were wined and dined by their Omaha friends. The mayor and council were given honor paroles and later their case was dismissed. Andrew J. Sawyer, author of "Lincoln, the Capitol City and Lancaster County, Nebraska" wrote this about the incident: "Until the trouble arose between the Lincoln Police Judge and the City Council, which resulted in the jailing of the latter and the subsequent hearing of the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, many instances of dishonesty had occurred in the force. In many respects the better class of citizens of Lincoln had a great deal to contend with on account of the lawless class of men who infected this state, as they do every border of the frontier."
The following year in 1898 the City Board and Chief Parker ordered a crusade against the suspicious characters that were infesting the city. During this same time the Board of Education was presenting evidence that pool hall keepers were allowing boys under 18 years of age into the establishments. E.M. Abbott was arrested and fined on three counts to kick off a campaign against that practice. Other arrests were made in connection with the crusade. The Lincoln Police Department started a mounted police unit in 1916. They were responsible for enforcing traffic rules and regulations. In 1927, the jail introduced the concept of hard labor. On June 22, 1927, the first detachment of prisoners was put to work at the city jail. They started "pounding rock" for $1.50 a day.
When Prohibition went into effect in May of 1917, there was a dramatic drop in the number of arrests. They dropped form 313 the month preceding Prohibition to 144 in May. Arrest for prostitution, banditry and bootlegging never really gained a foothold of importance in Lincoln.
One of the best known and widely publicized cases for the Lincoln Police Department occurred on January 27, 1958. Charles Starkweather started one of the biggest manhunts in the nation by killing 10 people. Before the investigation was over many officers from LPD spent countless hours investigation and searching the community for Starkweather and his accomplice Carol Fugate.
By 1975, LPD entered a new era when Team Policing was instituted. Team Policing divided the city up into four geographical areas each with their own team captain and complement of police officers that work in the same area each day. A fifth team (Center Team) was added in 1999 and the team boundaries changed.
The Team Policing concept is beneficial to the community and the officers. The officers who patrol and answer calls in the same area are better suited to know the businesses and the neighborhood people in their area. They are able to recognize suspicious activity and known offenders due to their familiarity of the area. It also allows the community to work with the officers to form a problem solving partnership to deal with crime, disorder and special problems that occur in the neighborhood. Team Policing has evolved even further and is now referred to as Community Based Policing. Police Departments are looking to the citizens of the community to help them be more efficient. New programs continue to develop which involves the community. LPD offers a Citizens Academy twice a year to interested and concerned citizens. The return of the School Resource Officer and implementation of the Bike Patrol are also examples of Community Based Policing.
The Lincoln Police Department started the first juvenile division in 1955 at the recommendation of Mayor Clark Jeary. Today we continue to have this division which is known as the Family Crimes Unit. This unit investigates serious crimes against children and missing juveniles. Family Crimes also operated a diversion program for juvenile offenders, coordinates many youth programs, and maintains gang and truancy intervention programs.
The size of the Lincoln Police Department changes yearly. In 1959, 100 patrolmen, 4 meter maids and a juvenile unity made up the entire department. The central radio system controlled only 1 of the 20 police cruisers and 14 motorcycles. This is a marked contrast to the single marshal of 1863. The numbers grew to 148 commissioned officers, 6 cadets, 4 meter maids and 30 civilian employees in 1967. Only three of the 148 commissioned officers were female. Currently there are over 300 commissioned officers with 50 being female, and over 100 civilian employees.
[edit] Vehicles
The Lincoln Police Department maintains a fleet over 250 vehicles. There are about 140 marked police cars, over 60 unmarked cars, and a number of support vehicles. The Department also operates 27 bicycles used for patrol functions. Each year, about 150,000 gallons of fuel are used to drive over 2,000,000 miles for all vehicles in our fleet.
Police patrol vehicles are purchased with additional features called a "police package". This includes heavier suspension, cooling system, alternator/wiring, and engine components. This increases the durability and longevity for vehicles used under adverse conditions. All new patrol vehicles come with both driver and front passenger air-bags.
All LPD vehicles are equipped with a mobile data terminal or MDT. The MDT allows officers to utilize a system called Computer Aided Dispatch or CAD. CAD uses a server located in the 911 center, which communicate with MDT's installed in the police vehicles. The purpose of CAD in the first place is to quicken the information that is received or transmitted from the call-taker or dispatcher to those who will facilitate the original call. The software has many other features allowing the Officer to utilize the NCIC computer, send messages to other MDT's (instant messenger) and access the department's local criminal database.
LPD utilizes a variety of vehicles for different purposes including:
- Ford Expedition (Duty Command/Traffic Unit)
- Ford Escape (Parking Enforcement)
- Ford Explorer (Canine Teams)
- Chevy Mailbu (Parking Enforcement)
- Harley Davidson Motorcycle (Traffic Unit)
[edit] Recruit training
Currently the Lincoln Police Department runs two police academies per year, one in the spring and one in the fall. The Lincoln Police academy is a 19 week course which combines a multitude of classroom instruction on various topics including state laws, local laws, police procedure, departmental policy and procedure and a variety of certification courses. The academy also trains recruits in practical exercises including Defensive Tactics (PPCT), emergency driving, firearms training, traffic stops, DWI and active shooter scenarios.
The LPD academy is held at the LPD headquarters and must maintain certain standards in accordance with the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island, Nebraska where the primary 13 week police academy is conducted.
Upon successfully completing the academy, recruits become commissioned police officers and receive law enforcement certification through the State of Nebraska.
Recruits then go through a 5 month Field Training Program which consists of five, one month long rotations where recruits ride with an Field Training Officer and must complete a unit test and checklist each rotation. Each month the recruit rotates to a different FTO and works the same schedule as the FTO. This way the recruit can experience multiple types of calls for service for the shift and team area that FTO works. The FTO program relies mainly on "luck training", where the recruit takes calls for service and gains experience with those calls. Luck training does not, however, train recruits on all types of calls for service. Many recruits complete the program without taking certain types of calls, but the general knowledge of how to handle such calls is learned through the program
