Kent Police establishes new crime-fighting unit with focus on specific areas

Kent Police have set up a new crime prevention unit to combat drug dealing, car theft, street racing and other problem areas.

Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla announced the special unit in his public safety report to the City Council on August 20.

A sergeant, three officers and a canine unit will make up the new unit, Padilla said. The officers will be taken off patrol duties (they will not respond to emergency calls) to focus on specific crimes or hot spots.

“They will be highly visible in the areas where we need them to deter crime or take enforcement action,” Padilla said. “Our goal is to reduce and prevent crime and increase community engagement.”

Since the personnel situation remained unchanged, Padilla decided to undertake what he called a “creative restructuring” with the current staff.

“We wanted to move away from a reactive posture and toward a more preventative, community-based patrol,” Padilla said.

Using data, collected information and crime statistics, the unit identifies hotspots and problem areas that need to be focused on.

Padilla said officers for the unit are still being selected; they will be uniformed officers.

“We are putting together a really, really good team,” he said.

A sub-team has already recently started its work, with the focus on stolen vehicles, Padilla said.

“They seized five stolen vehicles and made three arrests in the first three hours of their operation,” he said.

Another crime hotspot is to be addressed soon, but the boss did not want to reveal what it will be.

“We expect a big impact,” said Padilla, who told the council he would report on the new team’s work in a few months.

Mayor Dana Ralph is happy with the plan.

“I'm really excited about this group,” Ralph said at the council meeting. “We're getting emails from residents about specific areas. I think it will be effective to be proactive and it feels good to be moving in that direction.”