By Deanna Adams
Police and fire departments are vital to the health and well-being of any city. The job of the police is to protect citizens by preventing crime, enforcing laws, apprehending suspects, and monitoring traffic. They respond to calls for help, violations, and make arrests. The job of the fire department is to respond to calls to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property and the environment, as well as to rescue people and animals from dangerous situations. We asked the leaders of these important community heroes a few questions many might be wondering about. Part 1 of 2 features Mentor Police Chief Ken Gunsch.
Police Chief Gunsch
Kenneth K. Gunsch joined the department in 1993 as a patrol officer. After serving as an evidence technician, field training officer, and detective with Mentor’s Criminal Investigation Unit, he rose through the ranks and was promoted to captain in 2012. In May of 2019, he was appointed as police chief.
What do you find are residents’ most common concerns in the community?
Residents want to be safe and know if they need assistance, they can call us, and we will be there. Many residents are concerned about traffic issues and count on us to enforce traffic laws to ensure safety in their neighborhoods. We have a comprehensive traffic program as our main purpose for traffic enforcement is to change the driving behavior of drivers, either by issuing a citation, or written/verbal warning, and to make the roads safer for everyone.
Do you have stats stating how safe it is to live in Mentor?
Mentor is a very safe place to live and is evident in our crime stats we publish every month. The large majority of our crimes are related to theft offenses. This is understandable since we have such a large volume of retail sales in the city. Our violent crimes are low and have been low for many years. I attribute this to the professionalism of our officers and quick response when issues arise. Per the FBI Uniform Crime Report, Mentor had 41 violent crimes in 2018 with a population of 47,118. Our monthly crime and traffic statistics are published on our department website under quick links/latest statistics tab. Crime statistics for all Ohio cities are also published by the FBI-Uniform Crime Reporting.
Your job, of course, is keeping Mentor safe. During these challenging times, have you had to make changes in how you approach what used to be “normal circumstances?” Such as, have you had more distress calls and emergency calls, than usual? Are you finding that people are much more worried about, well, everything?
The global pandemic has forced us to adjust some of our operational techniques. Wearing masks and keeping our social distance from people is our main focus to stay safe. Obviously, in police work, it’s not always possible to keep the distance when officers have to make arrests. In regard to an increase in calls, I thought we would see an increase in domestic violence and assaults during the governor’s stay-at-home order. However, our domestic violence arrests were relatively equal to 2019 through April and our assaults and thefts have been down during this time period. Overall, our call activity decreased 36% during the stay-at-home order but is returning to normal levels with the opening of the economy.
We’ve all seen weaving cars, and often, we don’t know if the driver is drunk, on their phone, or just being distracted. What should a motorist do if they fear the driver is a threat?
Distracted/impaired drivers are a danger to the traveling public. If you notice a vehicle driving in front of you that appears to be impaired (weaving in their lane) call 911. If this person is impaired, we want to do all we can to get them stopped and off the road before they possibly cause an accident and injure someone. Sometimes we have people send us a Facebook message and photo of the vehicle’s license plate to report the driver. This information will not get to the officers on the street in a timely manner. Calling 911 and staying on the phone to provide location updates to the dispatcher works the best for us to locate the vehicle and take appropriate action.
Given today’s circumstances, what changes are possible to improve the city overall, and/or likely to change at this time concerning continued safety among home residents, store owners, motorists? Should residents do something they aren’t doing right now? What would you like the public to know that’s not often mentioned in the news?
I take the safety of the city residents and businesses seriously and we do everything we can to keep them safe, along with our visitors. We as a police department accomplish this by having professional and well-trained officers. Our officers adhere to the highest ethical standard and pride themselves on their commitment to protect and serve all those in our community with impartiality. One message I always want to share with the community is to call us if you’re having a problem or you believe there is some type of suspicious activity occurring. Many people will call us the following day to report a suspicious person or event because “they didn’t want to bother us.” That limits our capabilities to take action or conduct follow-up. We are here to help and will always respond when needed to keep our community safe.
This article originally appeared in Mentor City Magazine 2020.