KAPLAN — Kaplan's chief of police race is underway, with current Chief Joshua Hardy running for re-election and Keith Greene, Sr. running as his opponent.
Each candidate shared how they plan to reduce crime rates in Kaplan.
Do you have plans on ways to reduce crime?
Hardy said, "We always try to make sure that we know who's out there on the streets. The officers that I have work nights. If they don't recognize someone that's out at a strange hour, they'll get down and just talk with them, have a general conversation, kind of get their information. That way if something does happen in the description that was that person if they happen to be a suspect."
Greene said, "A majority of it is having more police presence in the community. Whether if we have an officer that calls in sick and we're supposed to have three officers on duty, well, then that means I'm going to be in a patrol car along with my officers patrolling, as well. There, you should not be able to drive around Kaplan and not see a unit or see an officer somewhere within the town."
Both candidates also addressed current shortcomings within the police department.
What are current shortcomings of the department, and how would you plan to address them?
"There's not enough police presence to combat, you know, what's going on in the town with crime and things like that. And, I'm, like I said, I'm sorry, you're a public official, you're on salary, so that means if you got to work 24 hours a day to get the job done, then that's what has to be done," Greene said.
"Really and truly, we always, we always suffer with employee shortages," Hardy said. "Since we made the last raise, I believe we will retain people a little bit more because we pay a little bit more. We've also gotten take-home units, so that's a little incentive to get someone to stay," he said.
Following a February incident involving a Kaplan officer's arrest for malfeasance, I asked each candidate how they would address misconduct or brutality. Both said they have a zero-tolerance policy.
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