Police Chief John Douglass is presenting to members of the City Council Public Safety Committee tonight information about changing trends in Overland Park, including crime.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. in Training Room A and B of the W. Jack Sanders Justice Center, 12400 Foster. The committee meets on a monthly basis.

"Overland Park, without question, is one of the safest communities in the nation. We have been ranked among the top ten cities by Money Magazine several times, which includes in its evaluation public safety," said Douglass. "Among our benchmark cities, we are among the top 10 safest cities."

Prompting tonight's presentation is research that indicates sectors within Overland Park that may require further attention. Indicators examined by police officials include education levels, income trends, employment numbers, housing value and population demographics.

Police officials will be working with code enforcement officers in the Planning and Development Services Department to correct any property violations.

"In an effort to be proactive, our staff members have identified challenges. We can solve them when they are small, as they are now," Douglass stated.

"We have employed various tactics in the past, including in the late 1980s and early 1990s when we began noticing an upward trend in gang activities and property code violations. We are not going to let illegal gang activity become a possibility," Douglass said. "In the past seven years, we have added 40 police positions in the department.

"We have the initial resources to begin with. We will be redirecting those resources to address the issues," he said. "We may need additional resources in the future. If so, we will gather relevant information and bring it to the attention of the City Manager and Governing Body."

PowerPoint presentation