Police Chief Chat
Good morning! I hope you had a great week. My week was not so great. On Sunday I learned that my friend and fellow law enforcement officer Sgt. Mark Reynolds had passed away. Mark was a 17 year veteran of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and was very well known and respected here at the Rolla Police Department. Mark was always there to lend a hand whether it be in the wee hours of the morning assisting officers on a traffic stop, backing the patrol division on dangerous calls or just stopping by to see how things were going. Mark was a true professional and was a proud and dedicated law enforcement officer. We will miss him!
I also learned this week that Dr. Kent King had passed after a lengthy battle with cancer. Dr. King was the Commissioner of Education at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and also served as the Superintendent of Rolla Public Schools for 19 years. Dr. King devoted his entire career to the education of our youth and is remembered by all as a very kind and caring man. Dr. King was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to accept the offer to be our guest speaker at our last D.A.R.E. graduation and it was quite a thrill for not only the students and faculty but also the guests of honor and parents to have him address the graduating class. Dr. King’s passing hits very close to home in that his daughter Traci is married to our own Lt. Doug James. Dr. King will be truly missed!
This week Telecommunications Supervisor Stayce Smith conducted a 40 hour Basic Communications Training session here at the Police Department for area telecommunicators. The course offered basic radio techniques and procedures, basic operational skill training in incoming calls for assistance, 9-1-1 calls, operator and criminal history inquiries and other police related inquiries. The class was attended by members of our communications division and members of the Missouri S&T Police Dept.
This week Dennis Noel our volunteers in Police Service Coordinator Is starting his presentations to civic groups on recruiting volunteers. He conducted his first presentation to the Optimist Club on Wednesday and will be continuing with other civic groups over the next several months. VIPs is a national program to get volunteers to work with the police department in assisting the department in duties that we just don’t have the time or manpower to do. If you want to make a difference and serve your community we can use your help in many areas. I believe that VIPS is a very important program to get the Police department and the citizens to join together in taking care of this community, we can not do it alone. The duties consist of making phone calls, answering phones, patrolling, following up on minor crimes and the list goes on. A person wanting to become a VIPS can contact Dennis Noel at 364-1213 to get more information, so join us and make a difference. In the near future Dennis will be going door to door contacting business’s just to say hi and to get to know what’s going on in the community, so that we can keep up with changes in the area. So please welcome him in your door so we can get to know each other.
I wanted to share just one of our many calls we go on and to thank those employees involved for an outstand job. (Thanks Sgt. Rapier, Telecommunicator Jamie Jones , Pto. LeAnn Robertson, Rolla City Fire, Phelps Ambulance, MSHP, S & T PD, Lt. Smith and the detectives!)The department had a call of a missing six year old from his back yard late one evening. Cpl. Adam Myer quickly organized who was doing what, got extra personnel there and made what turned out to be a valuable contact, in the neighbor who’s back yard is shared with the missing six year olds yard. Considering the bitter cold and fast approaching nightfall, time was obviously of the essence.
While officers were responding and searching communicator Trina Duarte searched for registered sex offenders in that area. She came up with an address for an offender that was in the very close proximity to where the neighbor told Cpl. Myer that he had seen Alex headed. After getting out of a field he was searching Cpl. Myer quickly responded to that address only to find it was no longer the residence of the offender….but coming down the stairs inside the house was a little boy….you guessed it….the missing child! He was visiting his friend that lived there…If you can believe that stroke of coincidence.
This was a great example of the resourcefulness on the part of everyone involved, they worked as a team and 30 minutes later Alex was thankfully returned to his mother safe and sound.
Great job everyone!
Chief Mark A. Kearse
Good morning! I hope you had a great week. My week was not so great. On Sunday I learned that my friend and fellow law enforcement officer Sgt. Mark Reynolds had passed away. Mark was a 17 year veteran of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and was very well known and respected here at the Rolla Police Department. Mark was always there to lend a hand whether it be in the wee hours of the morning assisting officers on a traffic stop, backing the patrol division on dangerous calls or just stopping by to see how things were going. Mark was a true professional and was a proud and dedicated law enforcement officer. We will miss him!
I also learned this week that Dr. Kent King had passed after a lengthy battle with cancer. Dr. King was the Commissioner of Education at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and also served as the Superintendent of Rolla Public Schools for 19 years. Dr. King devoted his entire career to the education of our youth and is remembered by all as a very kind and caring man. Dr. King was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to accept the offer to be our guest speaker at our last D.A.R.E. graduation and it was quite a thrill for not only the students and faculty but also the guests of honor and parents to have him address the graduating class. Dr. King’s passing hits very close to home in that his daughter Traci is married to our own Lt. Doug James. Dr. King will be truly missed!
This week Telecommunications Supervisor Stayce Smith conducted a 40 hour Basic Communications Training session here at the Police Department for area telecommunicators. The course offered basic radio techniques and procedures, basic operational skill training in incoming calls for assistance, 9-1-1 calls, operator and criminal history inquiries and other police related inquiries. The class was attended by members of our communications division and members of the Missouri S&T Police Dept.
This week Dennis Noel our volunteers in Police Service Coordinator Is starting his presentations to civic groups on recruiting volunteers. He conducted his first presentation to the Optimist Club on Wednesday and will be continuing with other civic groups over the next several months. VIPs is a national program to get volunteers to work with the police department in assisting the department in duties that we just don’t have the time or manpower to do. If you want to make a difference and serve your community we can use your help in many areas. I believe that VIPS is a very important program to get the Police department and the citizens to join together in taking care of this community, we can not do it alone. The duties consist of making phone calls, answering phones, patrolling, following up on minor crimes and the list goes on. A person wanting to become a VIPS can contact Dennis Noel at 364-1213 to get more information, so join us and make a difference. In the near future Dennis will be going door to door contacting business’s just to say hi and to get to know what’s going on in the community, so that we can keep up with changes in the area. So please welcome him in your door so we can get to know each other.
I wanted to share just one of our many calls we go on and to thank those employees involved for an outstand job. (Thanks Sgt. Rapier, Telecommunicator Jamie Jones , Pto. LeAnn Robertson, Rolla City Fire, Phelps Ambulance, MSHP, S & T PD, Lt. Smith and the detectives!)The department had a call of a missing six year old from his back yard late one evening. Cpl. Adam Myer quickly organized who was doing what, got extra personnel there and made what turned out to be a valuable contact, in the neighbor who’s back yard is shared with the missing six year olds yard. Considering the bitter cold and fast approaching nightfall, time was obviously of the essence.
While officers were responding and searching communicator Trina Duarte searched for registered sex offenders in that area. She came up with an address for an offender that was in the very close proximity to where the neighbor told Cpl. Myer that he had seen Alex headed. After getting out of a field he was searching Cpl. Myer quickly responded to that address only to find it was no longer the residence of the offender….but coming down the stairs inside the house was a little boy….you guessed it….the missing child! He was visiting his friend that lived there…If you can believe that stroke of coincidence.
This was a great example of the resourcefulness on the part of everyone involved, they worked as a team and 30 minutes later Alex was thankfully returned to his mother safe and sound.
Great job everyone!
Chief Mark A. Kearse
I am a dear friend of Sergeant Mark Reynolds, I was totallysuprised to hear of his passing. At the time I had been going through some serious health issues and are ongoing. I had spoken to Mark just a few months earlier. Can someone email me and explain how this happened to my friend. I would like to get in touch with his family. Please help... Sincerely, Lavern Barton
ReplyDeleteFor information ref. Mark Reynolds
ReplyDeletehttp://www.1branson.com/forum/t42762.html
Thank you for your response.
ReplyDelete