The Owensboro Police Department’s Flex Team was designed to maintain a police presence in downtown Owensboro and decrease the amount of shootings and shots fired in the area between 5th and 9th Street. From Sept. 2 to early November, the flex team’s work paid off as they added to a significant decrease in violent criminal acts.
For now, the flex team’s officers have been relocated back to their previous posts and, while officers will continue monitoring downtown Owensboro, there will no longer be an attentive presence patrolling the specific area.
OPD Deputy Chief Jeff Speed said at Tuesday night’s city commission meeting that the amount of violent activity slowed every week that the flex team remained in that area, so OPD decided to place them back with their original teams after a couple of months of focused attention on downtown streets.
“There were several violent offenders that were taken off the streets,” said Deputy Chief Speed. “During their work, they conducted 410 traffic stops that resulted in 440 charges. During that campaign, there were 103 warrants served, there were 139 drug charges and over 12 weapons charges.”
“They just did outstanding work,” Speed said. “They gave almost 300 verbal warnings, so something we’re very pleased with–it wasn’t just an enforcement model.”
Speed said one of the flex team’s most important accomplishments was the increased time spent with the community, gathering opinions and feedback from those in those in the area.
“The men and women that were on this team conducted almost 3,000 minutes of foot patrol, and that was designed to break down barriers and basically foster relationships with the community to help solve crimes,” Speed said.
Aside from the hundreds of charges OPD was able to make, Speed said they also took six guns off the street, along with one ax and one pair of brass knuckles, which Speed said with a laugh, “weren’t designed for good purposes — I promise you they didn’t have good intentions with those.”
Speed said the community expressed their appreciation, almost daily, to OPD for their implementation of a flex team in an area that was hit very hard by violent criminal activity in the middle of the summer and early fall.
Currently, violent crime is on a downswing for the area between 5th and 9th St., according to Speed, as shootings and shots fired in the aforementioned area have significantly decreased.
In an effort to analyze crime data, Owensboro Times mapped the following statistics, which were reported by OPD and the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12:
Assault – first degree (intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument) Note: the only data on this map involved shootings.
Robbery – first degree (A person is guilty of robbery in the first degree when, in the course of committing theft, he uses or threatens the immediate use of physical force upon another person with intent to accomplish the theft and when he: (a) Causes physical injury to any person who is not a participant in the crime; or (b) Is armed with a deadly weapon; or (c) Uses or threatens the immediate use of a dangerous instrument upon any person who is not a participant in the crime.)
Burglary – first degree (A person is guilty of burglary in the first degree when, with the intent to commit a crime, he knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a building, and when in effecting entry or while in the building or in the immediate flight therefrom, he or another participant in the crime: (a) Is armed with explosives or a deadly weapon; or (b) Causes physical injury to any person who is not a participant in the crime; or (c) Uses or threatens the use of a dangerous instrument against any person who is not a participant in the crime.)
Wanton Endangerment – first degree (A person is guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person.)
Assault – second degree (A person is guilty of assault in the second degree when: (a) He intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person; or (b) He intentionally causes physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument; or (c) He wantonly causes serious physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument.)
Burglary – second degree (A person is guilty of burglary in the second degree when, with the intent to commit a crime, he knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a dwelling.)
Robbery – second degree (A person is guilty of robbery in the second degree when, in the course of committing theft, he uses or threatens the immediate use of physical force upon another person with intent to accomplish the theft.)
