kcstar | For more than 40 years, New York City’s police foundation has raised
private dollars to buy everything from horses to bulletproof vests to
crime analysis technology.
Atlanta’s police foundation, created in
2003, raises several million dollars annually to assist police,
especially with a camera surveillance network.
And the St. Louis
police foundation, begun in 2007, now provides more than a half-million
dollars per year for such things as ATVs and even dogs.
In fact,
most big cities view police foundations as vital to providing money for
the wish lists that so ...,many departments can’t fund with strapped city
budgets.
Finally, after years of research and organizing, Kansas City is joining the trend.
“We’re
starting to roll,” said Cy Ritter, who was hired in March as the Kansas
City police foundation’s executive director, a few years after retiring
as a Kansas City deputy police chief.
Ritter has just launched
the foundation’s first two major initiatives: a program to track and
find missing people with autism or dementia, and another to start a
major surveillance camera program.
“The city is very good to
Police and Fire, but there’s just not enough dollars,” Ritter said,
adding that the foundation was formed to supplement public tax money
that pays for police salaries, cars, uniforms and other essentials. The
foundation’s focus, like that in many cities, will be training and new
technologies.
Betsey Solberg, chairwoman of the foundation’s
14-member board, acknowledges that it’s taken several years for the
organization to get up and running — and that Kansas City trails other
cities that did this years ago.
“We are behind, but we are getting
caught up,” said Solberg, adding that the foundation is critically
needed. Kansas City’s violent crime rate, while improving in recent
months, still ranks as one of the worst in the country.
“If you look at how serious our crime is,” she said, “we’ve got to do something.”
