Gladstone Police
7010 N Holmes Street
(816) 436-2200 ext. 4097
Emergency Services 9-1-1
Non-Emergency Police Dispatch (816) 436-3550
Gladstone Police - Accident Investigation Unit
The mission of the Traffic Unit is to reduce the number of traffic accidents in the City of Gladstone through aggressive enforcement of the traffic laws, driver safety education, and roadway and intersection engineering. The Traffic provides technical expertise to the department in the areas of accident investigation, drunk and/or impaired driving detection and arrest and the operation of speed detection.
Education will include verbal and written warnings, publication articles, and face to face time with community groups, schools, and businesses.
Engineering will involve reviewing all aspects of the roadway, signage, and signaling to improve roadway efficiency and safety.
The Unit investigates citizen complaints of speeding vehicles, illegal parking and other traffic related issues, and the Unit facilitates the planning and coordination of security, police escorts and/or crowd control for special events each year.
Speed and Traffic Enforcement
The Traffic Unit’s primary responsibility is the enforcement of Gladstone’s speeding and other traffic regulations. Officer’s use Doppler and Laser radar on the residential streets as well as the main arteries and the interstate highway that goes through Gladstone. Officers try to concentrate their enforcement efforts at the busier locations or known problems to make the streets of Des Moines safer for the residents and visitors.
Enforcement areas will vary, but the most aggressive enforcement will correspond to the high traffic areas of N Oak, NE 72nd St, N Broadway, and N Antioch Rd.
Accident Investigation
The Traffic unit is responsible for the investigation of all serious and fatal motor vehicle accidents that occur within the city limits. Officers within the Unit possess varying skill levels of accident investigation that range from Advanced Investigator to Reconstructionist. The reconstructionists also assist the Criminal Investigations Bureau in recreating scenes involving death investigations and other serious crimes.
The Traffic Unit uses survey equipment that assists in capturing detailed roadway and vehicle evidence. The equipment allows investigators to document to scale the entire crash scene. Once the scene investigation is completed investigators download the captured data into a computer system that will represent the scene in still or motion imagines. This reconstruction system enables the investigators to understand the chain of events involved in the crash.
The officers work closely with the Clay County District Attorney’s Office during the course of their investigations. When the officers are not assigned to a crash investigation they are enforcing the traffic laws and seeking those drivers that exhibit the leading contributing factors of critical and fatal crashes.
Hit and Run Investigations
Each year there are hit and run accidents within the City of Gladstone and the Traffic Unit has an investigator following up on those cases with any leads. This follow-up includes interviewing witnesses and people involved in the accident, reviewing surveillance cameras of where accidents may have occurred, examining the physical evidence left at the scene of the accident, and other investigative methods.
DWI / Drug Recognition Testing
All traffic officers are certified to detect and apprehend drivers under the influence of alcohol. The Unit has officers trained and certified as Drug Recognition Experts, skilled in identifying drivers under the influence of drugs or narcotics.
Parking Enforcement
The Traffic Unit Interacts with neighborhood associations to target abandoned vehicles within their neighborhood and any other chronic parking problem.
Crossing Guards
The Traffic Unit coordinates with the North Kansas City School District to provide part-time crossing guards for several grade schools in Gladstone. The Crossing Guards protect our children who are walking to and from the schools in our neighborhoods, providing a vital service to the students of those schools.
Special Events and Parades
The Traffic Unit provides officers for Special Events occurring within the City of Gladstone. The nature of the events varies from Gladfest, the Fourth of July at Oak Grove Park, events at the Community Center, parades and fun runs to Presidential and dignitary visitations warranting special escorts and security.
Accident Reports
To obtain an Accident Report, go to DocView.