Working in blue and acting green

If you’ve been to the new ShoWare Center to see a Thunderbirds game, you know between periods of the game short videos are shown on the big screen about the “green” components of the building.

The videos highlight the City of Kent’s commitment to environmental awareness and not only show the construction elements, but also some of the day-to-day differences from any other building.

The toilets are low-flow, the cups used in the concession stands are biodegradable, and much of the trash is recycled. ShoWare Center is the first arena in the country to be built under strict environmental standards, which are voluntary. It makes you pretty proud to be associated with Kent when you see these videos.

So, you may ask yourself, what is the police department doing in terms of our city’s commitment to the environment? Our mayor and City Council have made Kent’s involvement as a “green” leader a priority. We don’t opt out of the conversation at all, or consider ourselves exempt from some of the expectations.

In some places, a police department would simply assert that we are different, we are special and we cannot be expected to pay attention to the environment. While it is true that we will always need to have squad cars to respond to calls and emergencies, we still do what we can to reduce fuel use and emissions. And, it’s not as simple as getting hybrid cars or reducing the time the cars are idling.

For the past two years, all of the department’s new unmarked, non-patrol vehicles have been hybrids – Ford Escapes and Chevrolet Malibus. These cars will be in our fleet for years and the benefits are not just the increased miles per gallon, particularly in the city where they are used the most, but also their reduced emissions.

Whenever they are stopped in traffic or idling at a scene, they are on electric power and the engine is off. Even our SUV Chevrolet Tahoe squad cars, used for our K9 Officers and for specialized uses, actually get a little better mileage than the standard Ford Crown Victoria cars, and they are equipped with flex fuel capability. Our city’s information technology department is working to deploy advanced computer batteries, so we don’t need to keep our cars idling to power the older-style batteries currently in use.

There is not a hybrid product available for patrol use yet, but we are waiting for the right product. I expect that sometime soon a manufacturer will come out with a vehicle that can attain higher speeds, power all those extra radios and computers while idling on electric power, and keep our officers safe in case of a crash. When that product comes out, a lot of officers will be driving those vehicles.

Another way we pay attention to the environment is by utilizing a high number of bicycle officers. While I cannot say the primary reason for our bike officers is environmental, the reduced use of fuel and lower emissions is a significant added benefit. The original addition of bike officers is tactical; it is the most effective way to deploy our officers in areas like downtown Kent and along the East and West Hill corridors. However, it’s easy to underestimate just how much of a “green” difference using bikes can make.

Our fourth full-time bicycle team has just been added, and we now have a total of eight full-time bike officers. That means there are eight officers working all week who do not drive a car, who do not put over 100 miles a day on a car, and whose daily work encourages and facilitates others to walk and bike on our streets and trails. We have doubled our bike teams in the past year.

Attention to the environment even extends to areas you may not expect. For example, Kent’s police department participates in a regional narcotics task force. One of the most important priorities for the task force is targeting and taking down large marijuana grow houses.

Groups of criminals are buying houses in residential areas all over the Puget Sound to grow and distribute marijuana. As I have mentioned in this column before, our enforcement efforts are not focused primarily on personal use or the debate over small amounts of marijuana. Our efforts are more about fighting organized crime, as well as a side effect that will surprise some people. Grow houses are an environmental disaster.

The criminals who set up grow houses start by trashing the inside of the home, then hijacking the electrical system so they don’t have to pay for the tremendous amounts of power used in the lighting. Then, they use chemicals to fertilize and grow the marijuana. When the grow houses are abandoned, as they often are, the chemicals are dumped both inside and outside the houses.

Speeding wastes gas, as does illegal street racing. Illegal dumping often includes paint and chemicals dumped in the river by people who don’t care about either the environment or their community. When we help our city fight crime, often times we are also helping to keep our environment clean. Many of us have just never thought of it that way before.

Have a great week.