Corpus Christi police chief Floyd Simpson at the Corpus Christi Police Foundation State of the Police Department breakfast and fundraiser at the Solomon P. Ortiz International Center Jan. 14.
The state of the city police is good and will get even better with funds received from a major fundraising breakfast held by the Corpus Christi Police Foundation(CCPF) Jan. 14. The breakfast featured Police Chief Floyd Simpson’s State of the Corpus Christi Police Department address before more than 1,000 officers, foundation members, officials and citizens convened at the Solomon P. Ortiz International Center.
Only the second annual breakfast held by the foundation, the event raised $70,000 — almost double last year’s $45,000. Much of that will go to purchase more body cameras for Corpus Christi police officers. Simpson said the 78 cameras now in use are popular with officers and have helped build a stronger relationship between the public and the police.
“Our goal is to have cameras on every officer on the street,” Simpson said. “That, in my mind, helps us with transparency and legitimacy, because what we do has to be, in the eyes of the public, the right thing.”
Simpson, who has served as Chief of Police in Corpus Christi for three years, pointed out several programs essential to the police department that are funded by outside sources.
“I’m excited at the direction that the department has taken,” Simpson said. “But these changes incur costs that are not always provided for in our annual budget. We have to reach out to other organizations for help and this (CCPF) is one of those we reach out to. And when we ring the bell, they respond. For that I thank you.”
He noted a long list of programs the foundation has helped fund in recent years including $43,000 in 2014 alone. Money has gone to pay for seminars about the emotional impact of law enforcement careers on officers, leadership training for executive staff, a back-to-school safety program for kids and outfitting the honor guard, which travels around the nation to officer funerals. The guard recently attended the funerals of two officers who were assassinated in New York City.
“Through all of this, the ultimate benefactor from the efforts of the foundation is the community,” Simpson said. “You guys enjoy a better equipped department with better trained officers. We have some of the best trained officers in the nation.”
Simpson continued to talk about the department’s “broken windows” philosophy of policing and crime statistics, which have gone up in homicides, but down in overall crimes. He noted that the city recently approved 13 additional positions for officers, which has not happened in the city since 1997. A new police building will be opening this year at the corner of Greenwood and Holly, the first ever for the department. Working with the Downtown Management District, the department installed 30 cameras downtown that record into a central location 24 hours a day. He hopes to have more cameras across the city in 2015.
“We need to have a real-time crime center,” he said. “That’s coming, with the help of organizations like the police foundation. I look forward to all the changes coming in 2015 and the foundation will play a huge role in that.”
