The Riley County Police Department Life Saving Award was presented Monday to citizen Bob Brown by Karen McCulloh, the Vice-Chair of the Riley County Law Enforcement Agency Law Board. Brown saved a two year old child from a residential fire in Riley last month, which involved an explosion KMAN reported on that same day from the scene.
McCulloh recounted Brown running from his residence a block away, climbing through a window, navigating to the child’s bedroom, grabbing the child and handing the child to a neighbor. The house was fully engulfed in fire within a minute of Brown exiting. The cause, which had never been announced officially, is listed on the award as apparently being caused by a propane leak in the basement of the residence.
The public comment portion of the Riley County Law Enforcement Agency Law Board meeting got a little heated Monday, during an exchange involving Riley County resident Jon Held and law board member Wynn Butler. Held was not satisfied with the way a criminal damage to property case was handled at his property about 10 miles north of town, estimating the damage at $340,000. An individual was arrested but nothing reportedly resulted from that case.
Held doesn’t feel the matter has gotten the attention it deserves–calling it “ridiculous” the way it’s been handled, adding he was “extremely disapointed” and that in his opinion the police did absolutely nothing and that the county attorney’s office doesn’t prosecute personal property crimes.
Toward the end of the presentation Law Board member Wynn Butler had some tough words for Held. Butler questioned Held’s use of names in his recounting of the events, saying he thought it was “very inappropriate” and referring to Held dragging names through the dirt.Assistant Riley County Police Director John Doehling indicated there’d been a meeting this past week with the Lt. involved as a case is being prepared to go to the county attorney. County Attorney Barry Wilkerson, who is preparing for a murder trial, assured Held he would meet with him August third.
How to go from good to better is the next step for the Riley County Police Department, according to Ted Davis with Grace Strategic Services, Inc., or GSSI, a group wich recently completed an Actively Engaged Employee Survey. Davis has worked with RCPD before and told Riley County Law Board members Monday he still sees a strong department. Davis went through the entire survey with the group, going over the types of questions and areas such as mission and expectations, job environment, leadership and management, people development, and technology.The board Monday also gave approval to a general order dealing with health and physical fitness requirements, a matter that has been discussed at previous meetings. Board member Craig Beardsley asked about feedback on the testing, with Asst. Director John Doehling indicating he hadn’t had much–although more testing’s been done…However Doehling says a couple of corrections officers had some difficulty with the test. The general order was unanimously approved by board members.
On another subject, Law Board member Usha Reddi asked about recent DUI numbers that were in the packet, with an uptick a few months ago to 51, the highest for May in five years. Reddi asked for more information at a later meeting about demographics involving age and location of where the DUI arrests had been made.
