By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph Police Department are enhancing a preexisting program that had officers helping area businesses with safety checks.
Now, police who visit area businesses will place a door hanger on the businesses that have been checked.
St. Joseph Deputy Police Chief, Jason Strong, says while police already routinely do these business check ins, the door hangers are an added way to engage the community
“Provide the officers name, the date that the property was checked and time, and on the back provide them a resource so they can have our Crime Prevention Unit do a street side assessment,” Strong tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “To look for vulnerabilities in properties, to make sure if we can add a light, add a camera, or otherwise deter somebody from burglarizing a property.”
The door hangers are also intended to provide property owners with some extra assurance that officers have been there.
Strong says the effort is part of Police Chief Paul Lusters continued effort to engage more with the community
“Comes down to communication, right? And engagement,” Strong explains. “And so, community engagement and communicating with the community on what we’re doing, and yeah I think it’s going over pretty well so far.”
Strong says the hangers will also provide business owners access to the St. Joseph Police’s Crime Prevention Unit to have them come out to do a site security assessment
“Limit the vulnerabilities of the property, give the property owner reassurance that their business gets checked on a regular basis,” Strong says. “Because it is the district officer’s responsibility in their downtime they get out and they actively at night look for those properties and check on them and make sure that they’re pulling door handles, checking windows.”
Strong says officers are out doing this normally, but now there will be the hangar at businesses to assure business owners that officers are checking.
Area businesses interested in requesting monitoring of their property can fill out a request online.