MMPD looks at March for new station

MOORESVILLE

The Mooresville Police Commission received several updates at Thursday night’s meeting on the Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department from Chief Richard Allen, who informed the commission that the new police cars ordered at the end of last year had been received.

“The new cars, we picked them up yesterday — all five of them,” said Allen.

Allen said that the cars were taken to Kenny Johnson’s Body Shop, where they would be painted black and white and have decals placed.

Allen also informed the commission that the department had purchased five new laptops to accompany the new police vehicles.

“Every time we get the five new cars, we try to outfit them with new equipment, so we purchased five new laptops for the five new cars,” said Allen.

Allen stated that the department had also purchased several vehicle cameras in addition to everything else.

“We also purchased 10 in-car cameras this year,” said Allen.

Allen explained that the department had 18 active road cars, with 10 in-car cameras already in service. Allen said that the department would now have a camera for its reserve car and transport van, as well as all of the cars in service.

“We are very excited about that,” said Allen.

Allen also informed the commission that radios previously ordered by the town council had been received by the department.

“The portables and mobiles are in,” said Allen. “It’s just a matter of getting them programmed, and they will be distributed amongst the officers. We bought 24 mobiles and 28 portables.”

Allen noted that the fire department received the same.

Allen told the commission that construction of the new police department was going along nicely and said that it was expected to be done around March.

“The new PD is coming along great,” said Allen. “They’re getting the floors done. Motorola is there moving some racks in for some equipment of theirs.”

Allen also informed the police commission that the town council planned to request more funds for the new police station from the redevelopment commission.

In other business

• Allen informed the commission that department was holding an assessment for applicants seeking to fill a vacancy in the department.

“The physical agility test is set for February the second,” said Allen.

Allen said that the physical agility assessment and a written test from Indiana Association Chiefs of Police would both be administered that day.

• Allen also informed the commission that four police officers had applied for the sergeant promotion within the department. Allen explained that Sgt. Cooke and Sgt. Hester both left for Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, vacating two sergeant positions. Allen said that the department hoped to go through the selection process before the next police commission meeting.

“We will conduct our normal course of business, where we do the interviews and have a testing procedure and so on and so forth, and at the next meeting, I hope to bring you our two nominations for the sergeant position,” said Allen.

• At the meeting, Allen presented department statistics for the month of December to the commission.

Allen reported 228 incident reports, 161 arrest reports, 93 citations, 350 warnings and 2,249 computer-aided dispatch calls. Allen also said that in December, there were 37 accident reports, 29 instances of property damage, seven personal injuries with no hit-and-runs or fatalities. According to Allen, there were 445 total 911 calls for December. Allen also stated that the department had reported 52 hours of comp time, 128 hours of overtime and 22,288 miles for mileage.

• Allen also presented year end statistics for the department for January through December of 2018. Allen reported 3,436 incident reports, 998 arrest reports, 2,068 citations, 5,961 warnings and 35,250 computer-aided dispatch calls for the year. Allen also said that in in 2018, there were 394 accident reports, 341 instances of property damage, 43 personal injuries with 10 hit-and-runs and no fatalities. According to Allen, there were 5252 total 911 calls for the year.

• The police commission approved minutes from the previous meeting after a motion from new police commissioner Danny Lundy to do so. Mooresville Police Commissioner Larry Bryant was absent from the meeting.

The next meeting of the Mooresville Police Commission will be 6 p.m. Feb. 21 at the Mooresville Police Station, 104 W. Main St.

~ By Anthony Woodside | Reporter | Published January 19, 2019 in The Mooresville Times