Leadership Lincoln County Law Enforcement Day Summary

Tuesday, September 17, 2024  Submitted by Dr. Katy Collins | Revive Chiropractic, formerly Perry Family Chiropractic

The Leadership Lincoln County group participated in the Law Enforcement Day on Tuesday, September 17th. The day began with Chief Dennis Thompson, the Fire Chief of North Platte, giving an overview of the potential of a new city building, areas covered by EMS and fire and the advanced life support care available through North Platte EMS. He focused on the necessity of a new city building for North Platte, for improvement in work environment, employee safety and proper facilities to improve employment numbers.

We then heard from Chief Steve Reeves, Police Chief of North Platte.  An overview of department coverage in North Platte was explained.  He focused on the importance of citizens to set up a Smart911 account to receive City Rave alerts and the ability for dispatch to easily locate your information quickly in the case of an emergency.  An overview of the dispatch system and its complexities was given.  North Platte dispatch mans a very complex and highly technical system.  An officer licensed to fly a drone gave us a great demonstration of the forces tactile drone used for multiple situations.  Drone technology has been paramount in increasing officer safety and improved overall situational outcomes.  Another officer depicted the capabilities of the 3D scanner utilized to take precise measurements of a crime scene.

These presentations were followed by tours of the dispatch center, fire and EMS and investigation offices, interview rooms and the rest of the patrol center.  This tour was extremely insightful on the dire necessity for a new City facility.  The current city building is not a suitable work environment for the police or fire department and all the supporting team members. Citizens would be enlightened, greatly, by taking a tour and speaking with either Chief Reeves or Chief Thompson.

Our next stop was the Nebraska State Patrol office with an overview from Captain Tyler Schmidt.  An overview of the patrol, areas covered, and supportive roles were discussed.  Captain Schmidt walked us through an interstate crash scenario, discussing all the working parts and how different departments come together to support and help each other.  We were also able to a demonstration of the drone used by the State Patrol. 
Third on our law enforcement tour was the Lincoln County Sheriff’s department.  We were given a tour of the facility.  During this tour we were able to see inmate housing, arrest intake, and live video court sessions.  It was very interesting to witness this facility in action and how very well ran it is.  Something that stood out was the scanning technology available to scan individuals before entering the facility. This is done for both inmate safety and employee safety.  Another thing that stood out was the amount of mental health that exists in the population of the inmates.

Lastly, we participated in a panel discussion comprised of the following individuals representing their respective areas:
District 11 Probation /Juvenile Probation – Brian Flanders
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office – Lieutenant Dan Newton
North Platte Police Chief – Chief Steve Reeves
Public Defender’s Office – Amanda M. Speichert
Lincoln County Attorney – Rebecca Harling
State Patrol – Captain Tyler Schmidt
Behavioral Health- Nickie Kroon
 
Mental health was the main topic discussed.  In North Platte there is a huge issue with mental illness and minimal resources to help these individuals.  As a city we are suffering due to the State cutting budgets concerning mental illness.  80-90% of the problematic case loads have a mental health or addiction component to them.  With restricted budgets, resources, facilities and professional personnel, the affected population receives little to no help.  Great Plains Health has a great facility and exceptionally trained personnel to help the mental health population; however, space, professional staff and quality resources are grossly outnumbered in comparison to the need in the community. 
The next topic discussed was the issue of social media and cell phone use and how this has increased work loads for law enforcement in general.   The panel was asked about their “why”, collectively they expressed that they feel that trying to make a difference in people’s lives is the right thing to do in hopes of changing a family or a family tree and cultivating relationships to keep our community safe.

After spending the day learning about our law enforcement departments, we recognized how privileged we are to have each department working collectively.  Most were surprised about how advanced each departments technology was and what that means for the safety of each department and community.  North Platte should be very proud of the men and women in law enforcement that serve our community. 

View photos of the session here.