Police chief producing results

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Nearly 3 1/2 years after the City Council hired Greg Graham as Cedar Rapids' new police chief, his record so far supports that choice as a sound one.

No, crime hasn't disappeared across the city or from the most troubled neighborhoods. The police department hasn't been free of controversy. Staff diversity - minorities - is still lacking.

But under Graham's leadership, achievements have outweighed setbacks. Most important, the numbers show public safety has improved.

Less than two weeks after he started the job, Graham led police response to the flood of 2008. That challenge extended for months and sucked up many resources and time, but officers received generally positive reviews. The chief, during a meeting last week with us last week, also praised the cooperation and effectiveness of the other responding agencies.

Crime statistics show steady declines - 3 percent fewer violent crimes and 12 percent fewer property crimes in 2010, with a similar decrease so far this year. Graham credits his officers and more input from residents.

The statistical drop in crime has been similar on the southeast side, which, deserved or not, has been a high-profile area in recent years. Graham also points to the police substation - Community Connections, that opened in late summer 2009 on First Avenue East - as making a positive impact there.

We supported the substation, but we've been getting mixed messages from some residents about its effectiveness and purpose. We'd like to see more documentation of who and how many people are accessing or being served by the various offices represented there, including juvenile probation, community corrections and city code enforcement.

The biggest internal flap Graham has faced involved three officers getting into trouble between May and July this year. Graham said the number of incidents in such a short time was “unusual and embarrassing” but “sometimes people make bad choices and my job is to hold them accountable. It doesn't define us. We have a dedicated, talented group of public servants.”

Public feedback about that issue pales in comparison to Graham's decision to install traffic cameras to monitor speeding and red-light violations in high-problem areas. He's weathered much criticism - especially that ticket revenue is only a cash-cow ploy - and points to police records that, through September of this year, show substantial decreases in all crashes and injury crashes, citywide and at the monitored sites, compared to the pre-camera year.

Most significant, perhaps, is the cameras' effect on Interstate 380 through the city: injury accidents down 66 percent and all crashes down 80 percent. On the infamous S-curves downtown, there have been no traffic deaths since the cameras' arrival, compared to the previous average of two fatalities per year.

Whether you like the cameras or not, those are tangible results. And that's what Graham is paid to achieve.

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