By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Police Chief Jeff Hooper is confident that his department's local policies are in line with a recent report by the state on how to change policing in Kansas. The biggest reason is transparency with community stakeholders.
"My community advisory and oversight board, they're really in tune with everything that goes on in the agency," Hooper said. "We talk about recruitment. We talk about hiring. We talk about use of force practices. We certainly talk about our policies and procedures. Darrel Pope, head of the NAACP sits on that, Hence Parson sits on that, Cindy Flores from the Hispanic community really sits on that. I have a former retired council member and mayor that sits on that. I have a retired police captain from HPD who is black who also sits on that."
Hooper is still looking for more people to serve in that advisory capacity.
"We invite them to all our training sessions on use of force, on ethics and bias based policing," Hooper said. "They come and they sit in on our training and so they see what we're training our officers. They see how we're utilizing that. They really have that oversight and are involved in every facet of the department. If members of the community want to be involved in that, want to know what's going on inside the agency and want to be able to provide their input into those facets of the agency, we would welcome people to come and be involved in that."
The main place where Hooper notes that things still remain somewhat opaque are actions regarding personnel. Some of that has to do with HR concerns, and some has to do with the negotiated agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police.
"Even under our current structure where we are involved in PEERA, I think that we can look at and negotiate for some efficiencies there that still allow for due process, but will make us more efficient and not allocate as many resources to that process. We are looking at that and making recommendations through negotiations."
One of the things Hutchinson police do to be transparent is always having some sort of video on during interactions with the public, and letting those who may have a problem with how they have been told an interaction happened see the video when it won't otherwise impede an ongoing investigation. Hooper looks forward to serving on the statewide Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training, in hope that he can help make some policy suggestions that can move things along at that level.