 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
BLUE SANTA
The Dickinson Police Blue Santa Program for 2006 was a huge success! Dickinson Police Officers and volunteers along with Santa Claus visited over forty (40) families in Dickinson and Galveston County Area on 12/20/06 and 12/21/06. The program is set up to help families in the community during the holidays with gifts and good will for their children and senior citizens. The program had over thirty (30) volunteers during the month of December helping with the wrapping of presents, deliveries and taking names for the program. The Dickinson Police Department and the Dickinson Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association (DCPAAA) would like to thank all the volunteers, organizations and sponsors for all their support and contributions in this program. The program will continue next year (2007) and if anyone or organization would like to make a donation please contact Chaplin Nelda Harles at the the Dickinson Police Department (281) 337-4700 ext.317 or Officer Tony Valdez Jr. at (281) 337-6370. Once again we thank all of you for your support in this program.
You can view photo slide shows from some of the parties by clicking on the images below.
HEALTH AND SAFETY FAIR
On 10/14, the Dickinson Police Department put on their first Annual Health & Safety Fair. The fair was from 10am to 2pm at the First United Methodist Church. The fair had approximately five hundred in attendance through out the day. Bicycles, Sony Play Stations and lots & lots of other prizes were given away. There was a winner from each school in the Dickinson District. A special thanks to Dickinson Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association, Dickinson Police Officers, City of Dickinson Employees, friends and family who came out and volunteered for the fair. A special thanks to Premier Martial Arts for the live demonstration they put on at the safety fair. A special thanks to all our sponsors. A Huge Thanks to First United Methodist Church for letting us use the gymnasium & grounds
You can view photo slide shows from some of the parties by clicking on the images below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PROMOTION
On October
10, 2006 Lieutenant
Arnold Moreno was promoted to the rank of Captain. Moreno started his law
enforcement career in 1981 as a communications operator for the Galveston
Police Department. In 1983, Arnold moved to the Galveston County Sheriff's
Department where he worked as a correctional officer. In 1985, Arnold
attended the fifteenth and final Sheriff's Department Police Academy. In
March 1987, Arnold was hired by the City of Dickinson as a
Patrolman/Communications operator. In 1989, Arnold was selected to join the
newly formed Galveston County Narcotic Task Force where he worked in an
undercover capacity and achieved the rank of street enforcement supervisor
before his departure from the unit in 1994. Arnold was promoted to the rank
of Sergeant upon his return to the Dickinson Police Department and was
assigned to supervise the newly formed Criminal Investigations Division. In
1997 Arnold was assigned to head a new unit within the Department that dealt
with Vice/Narcotic issues. Arnold was then sent to the Galveston resident
office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (D.E.A) Task Force where he
stayed until September 1999. Upon returning Arnold was promoted to the rank
of Lieutenant and put back in charge of Criminal Investigations where he
remains today. Arnold is the Commander of all special operations programs
conducted by the Dickinson Police Department and holds a Master Peace
Officers certificate and is a licensed Police Instructor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW OFFICERS
During the month of October three new officers joined the ranks of the Dickinson Police Department, Angie Uvalle, Allen Oliver, and Johnny Smith.
All three officers will be assigned to the patrol division after they complete their field training program.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Department Goes "Live" with new software
Dispatchers are now able to more efficiently track officers in the field. The built in mapping systems allows them to visually see the locations of calls that officers are assigned to. Dispatchers are alerted to calls at "hot spots" where potential officer hazards and wanted suspects are located.
The Criminal Investigation Division will be able to utilize the case management system to track the status of follow-up investigations and to help develop investigative leads. Detective are looking forward to the availability of additional information from the files of the Sheriff's Office. Since all arrest for class B misdemeanors and above are booked through the county jail we will now have access to information and photographs on suspects handled by different agencies in the county. This will be a big time saver in tracking suspects and creating photo line-ups.
The patrol officer also received training in mobile reporting. This system will allow them to complete their reports in the field, thus spending more time on active patrol. The officers can complete their reports and submit them to a supervisor without ever entering the police station. Officers will also be alerted to wanted suspects and be able to view their photographs right from their car.
The jail management system will allow for the complete tracking of all prisoners booked into the city jail. A new mug shot system allows for immediate access to prisoner mug shots.
The records management and jail management systems went live on October 3rd. As part of this process, all the locally held criminal warrants were entered into the new system. This is a big plus to our department, because every prisoner booked into the county jail will be automatically checked for Dickinson warrants. Previously an agency would have had to call our department to check our warrants. During the entry process we were successful in locating one suspect who had been arrested by another agency and was still in the county jail Under the old system this suspect would have bonded out without our knowing that he had been arrested.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
City purchases new public safety software
Recently, the City Council of the City Dickinson approved purchasing a new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Records Management System (RMS) software for the Police Department to replace the current outdated systems. The public safety software was purchased from SunGard HTE’s Open Software Solutions (OSSI) division in the amount of $178,738. Also approved in the purchase are 7 laptop computers and associated hardware priced at $32,734 to be purchased from Affordable Computer Systems. A project contingency of $10,600 (5%) was added bringing the grand project total to $222,072.
Dickinson Police Department will operate under a “jurisdictional” software license agreement with the Galveston County Sheriff’s Department. The PD staff made every effort to take advantage of cost-savings measures as they became available during the search for this software. Two factors came in to play that contributed to the decision to recommend purchasing this software. The first was licensing fees and second was connectivity. Partnering with the Sheriff’s Department provided a substantially lower price on the software. Partnering with the Galveston County Emergency Communications District to connect to the County’s server provided for a savings of half the cost. The existing 911 fiber circuit provided by Time Warner Cable is an existing link between Dickinson Police Department and the Galveston County EOC center.
The new software has many benefits that provide the citizens of Dickinson with quick efficient service. Those benefits include: information sharing, Mobile Field Reporting, wireless and paperless dispatching, Jail Management, and interoperability with neighboring law enforcement agencies.
Information sharing between agencies is a huge benefit in case solving. Officers will be able search the County’s database for information relative to warrants, jail records, and other information that will is mutually agreed upon to share.
Mobile Field Reporting will be available to the uniformed patrol officers to do their reports on laptop computers in their patrol vehicles or other field environment. Officers will be able to transmit these reports in real time via wireless broadband air cards to the file server for processing by the Records department. This will keep the officers visible in the field instead of in the office writing reports. Mobile Field Reporting also allows Dickinson officers to communicate with the sheriff’s department deputies via laptop PC’s.
The dispatchers can utilize the CAD system to send calls to officers in real-time “silent” dispatch mode to increase officer safety for calls that require high security, i.e. bomb threats, terrorist activity, etc.
The system also features a Jail Management module. The jail module allows the Jailers to book prisoners into the City Jail. In addition to booking, the jail module provides medical information, property information, mug shots, arrest information, and other pertinent information relative to prisoners housed at the City Jail.
The system will also allow for interoperability with other law enforcement agencies that use the OSSI software locally, regionally, and nationally. Agencies abroad can also view information that Dickinson puts in the system, provided that it is shared.
The infrastructure of the system (file servers and related hardware) is owned and operated by Galveston County and operated by the Sheriff’s Department and the Information Technology (IT) department. Dickinson will receive software support for the system through the sheriff’s department, IT Department, and SunGard HTE.
The go-live date for CAD is slated for September 2006. The RMS module and wireless reporting packages will be brought online thereafter (December 2006). The project could go online faster than the projected date because a lot of the geobase information is already in place.
The aforementioned benefits are just some of the many features that the new system offers. The powerful new law enforcement software system will provide the citizens of Dickinson many years of reliable and effective service. The new software project is being managed by Administrative Captain Melvin Mason. If you have questions or comments, Captain Mason can be reached at 281-337-6301 or email: mmason@dickinson-tx.gov. You may also visit the OSSI web page at www.ossiusa.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NATIONAL NIGHT OUT
National Night Out was celebrated nationwide on Tuesday August 1, 2006. The programs is designed to bring neighbors together in the fight against crime. This year in Dickinson there were eleven neighborhood block parties. Officers from the Dickinson Police Department were joined by fire department personnel, and city council members in visiting each of the parties. Food, fun, and conversation were the highlights of the evening. You can view photo slide shows from some of the parties by clicking on the images below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHAPLAINS HONORED
On July 28th a luncheon was held to honor the Dickinson Police Chaplains. Both Chaplain William King III and Chaplian Nelda Harles recently received the Master Training Level of Certification from the International Conference of Police Chaplains. To qualify for this highest level of certification the Chaplains had to complete ten years of service and receive extensive in service training. We would like to congratulate the Chaplains on reaching this milestone in their carriers.
Click on image to see slide show of luncheon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FIFTY CLUB AWARD
The 50 Club held their 35th Annual Award banquet on May 8, 2006 at Moody Gardens in Galveston. Sergeant T. K. Keele was awarded the Officer of the Year for the Dickinson Police Department. Sergeant Keele is a 15 year veteran of the department. He is the senior sergeant assigned to the patrol division. Congratulations Sergeant Keele.
New Officer |
||||||||||||||||||||
In
an effort to equalize the department head leadership within the administrative
division of the police department, an additional Captain’s position was
added to the police department. The 3rd Captain’s position will
oversee the Criminal Investigation Division as it relates to major case
investigations, vice & narcotic operations, auto crimes, internal affairs,
and background investigations of perspective law enforcement employees.
