Crisis Action Team
The Crisis Action Team (C.A.T.) is a Specialized Weapons and Tactics Unit (S.W.A.T.) comprised of members from the Higginsville Police Department, Lafayette County Sheriff's Department, Odessa Police Department, Bates City Police Department and Concordia Police Department. Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh and Higginsville Police Chief Shawn Smith lead the team. The team serves high risk warrants, resolves hostage situations and participates in high-risk manhunts. To maintain proficient skills in weapons and tactics, the team trains frequently and for long hours. Chief Smith also serves as the team’s hostage negotiator.
CSI Unit
The Crime Scene Investigation Unit is a team of highly trained crime scene technicians. These members are employed by area law enforcement agencies such as the Lafayette County Sheriff's Department, the Higginsville Police Department, the Concordia Police Department and the Odessa Police Department. Members receive their training from the Kansas City Police Department Crime Laboratory. The Unit is activated for major crime such as Homicide, Rape, major Methamphetamine labs, motor vehicle theft and serious property crimes such as burglary. Sgt. Josh Thompson leads the Crime Scene Investigation Unit and currently has seven members. The unit has been utilized for many cases around the county, but because of its sought after expertise they have been used in surrounding counties for their major homicide cases.
D.A.R.E
In 1990, two Higginsville Officers attended the first D.A.R.E. training in the State of Missouri. Upon their graduation, the Higginsville Police Department entered into a contract with the Lafayette Co. C-I School District to provide D.A.R.E. instruction to all 5th graders. Over 1000 students from the Higginsville area are now D.A.R.E. graduates. The goal of the department was to obviously try to teach kids to say no to drugs, but even more importantly, to create a positive relationship between police officers and kids. We feel it is also important to have a good working relationship with the school system and feel that these goals have been accomplished. We continue to provide instruction to a core group of 5th graders in both the public and private schools of Higginsville.
What is D.A.R.E.? Drug Abuse Resistance Education training was developed by the Los Angeles School District and the Los Angeles Police Department to try to keep kids in school and off drugs. It was designed to be a cooperative between Police, Schools and Parents. The program involves confidence building and good decision-making skills. It places an officer in a 5th grade classroom situation one day a week for 11 weeks. It is hoped that the officer and students develop a positive relationship as they go through the training. Students are taught that it is O.K. to say “NO” to drugs and they receive encouragement, which is intended to build their self-esteem so that they don’t feel the need to use drugs.
Investigations
The Higginsville Police Department is proud that it employs a full time detective to work the many investigations the department handles. We are proud to bring such a service to our citizens and feel a great sense of pride in solving crime. According to the national average, only 15-20% of criminal investigations are solved. Higginsville is proud to say that our solvability rate is approximately 65% to 70% in most cases. We believe this is due to prompt and complete investigative work by assigning a full time detective.
K-9 Unit
The K-9 Unit provides support to the Patrol Division and other departments through the use of specially trained police dogs. The departments K-9 is trained to track humans and narcotics detection or the discovery of controlled substances. "Ringo" is a highly trained narcotics dog and tracking dog. His handler is Officer Maxwell. K-9 Ringo began his career in February of 2014. Ringo is a 5 year old Dutch Shepard, both of his parents were imported from Holland and are Police K-9's as well.