PATROL DIVISION

The patrol division is responsible for answering calls for service, traffic enforcement, traffic accidents, and other tasks essential to serving Merriam.

Merriam police officers work 10-hour shifts with varying start times to cover all 24 hours of the day, seven days a week. They're assigned to one of six supervisors.

In 2022, our officers answered 9,581 calls for service. These calls ranged from simple city ordinance violations to severe crimes involving personal injury. Merriam police officers also conducted 9,487 self-initiated citizen contacts. These included traffic stops, suspicious person checks, business checks, community outreach, and other miscellaneous duties.

Officers wrote a total of 3,570 reports.

Investigations

The Merriam Investigations Unit consists of three detectives and a detective sergeant. In 2022, the unit investigated 525 cases. Of these, 55% of the cases were solved. The Merriam Police Department also contributed regularly to both the Kansas City Metro Squad and the Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team (OICIIT). This year, officers and investigators helped out on two Metro Squad and two OICIIT investigations.

Training

Each Merriam police officer received an average of 140 training hours in 2022. Officers were able to participate in various training types. Some of these training types included firearms, serious injury and fatality crashes, defensive tactics, ambush survival, real-world de-escalation, biased-based policing, legislative updates that included law changes and notable case laws, civil disturbance, leadership and wellness, use of force, emergency and pursuit driving, crisis intervention, drugged driving, combat first-aid, leadership, and many other types of training.