It’s not just in your head: You probably have been seeing more police cars out making stops in parts of Prairie Village lately. And Prairie Village police hope potential criminals have, too.
More than six months ago, the department launched a new initiative aimed to increase law enforcement visibility in parts of the city that were experiencing the highest rates of crime. The Data Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) method encourages departments to make high-visibility traffic stops in crime “hot spots” to discourage potential criminals.
And with half a year of DDACTS activity under their belts, Prairie Village law enforcement officials think the tactics may have helped stem a persistent burglary problem.
There were 68 residential burglaries in Prairie Village in 2010. So far this year, there have been 55 — but 26 of them occurred in the first three months of the year, before DDACTS went into effect. Prairie Village police captain Tim Schwartzkopf said that while its impossible to account for every variable that impacts the crime rate, department leaders feel the new strategy has worked.
“It’s the officers that are out there doing the hard work, and it’s paid off,” Schwartzkopf said. “I think these high visibility stops have had an impact. It could be that the word is out among the criminals, ‘Don’t go to Prairie Village.'”
Between April and September, the department recorded 1,452 hours of DDACTS enforcement. During that time, they made 1,811 traffic stops or contacts, issued 1,252 citations, and made 63 arrests.
Schwartzkopf said that while the department has been pleased with the reduction in the burglary rate, traffic accidents, which DDACTS is supposed to help reduce as well, have remained constant.
“That’s another one of the goals of the program, so we need to keep evaluating the data, and see if we can get a reduction there as well,” he said.
