Atlantic Police Chief Steve Green presented his annual report to the City Council, Wednesday night. Green said his department handled 7,217 calls over the past year and made over 1,000 traffic stops but only wrote 396 tickets. They also took over 388 incident reports, including burglaries, etc.  241 people were arrested and incarcerated. Simple misdemeanor offenses such as shoplifting, resulted in citations instead of arrest, due to jail overcrowding and expenses. He said also, that while other law enforcement agencies make a habit of making daily announcements on drug busts and other arrests, his officers work under the radar and put out what information they can, without hindering their undercover operations. Sometimes those operations span several months so all the suspects can be rounded-up and prosecuted.

Green told the Council his officers also spent a lot of volunteer time in service to the community such as “Shop with a Cop,” and other programs for children, families and emergency services.  He said he’s been asked a lot over the past year if the Atlantic Police Department will be getting body cameras. He said they tested five different models of cameras this past year, with each model tested in various modes for several weeks, each.

He says a system called “WatchGuard” (https://watchguardvideo.com/) is the best and most durable they’ve tested. The price tag of $52,220 includes five in-car systems along with the 12 body camera systems, a warranty and a three-year software license for each officer. The City of Des Moines recently contracted for the same system.

Green has about $20,000 available in his budget. City Administrator John Lund said Green is currently under budget, so coming up with the funds won’t be a problem, and if any adjustments need to be made, they can come from the next fiscal year that begins in July. That option was preferable to a more expensive three-year lease agreement for the cameras and equipment, that includes a seven-percent interest rate. That would have pushed the total cost to more than $62,000. It takes at least eight-weeks for the system to arrive once the contracts are negotiated with the company and signed.

Green announced also, that if he’s elected to the Board of Supervisors in November, he will be retiring as Police Chief at the end of December. He said also, Officer Cody Eckles will be leaving the Police force at the end of December, to accept a Chief Deputy Sheriff’s position in Shelby County.