The Raytown Police SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics Team) consists of a 
group of Police Officers who receive additional training and are willing to maintain on-call status 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The unit's specially trained personnel provide tactical response to hostage situations, barricaded persons, armed-suspect incidents, work or school place violence and high-risk search warrant entries for various investigative units including Homicide, Robbery, Narcotics and Domestic Violence. They also support day-to-day patrol incidents by responding to high-risk calls for service in addition to their regular assignments.
While the goal of every Police Officer is to save lives and de-escalate the potential for violence, there are times when a violent suspect must be prevented from killing innocent victims or bystanders. SWAT Team members use different firearms systems, including precision, long-range firearms. When appropriate, the team also utilizes 'less lethal' weapons such as the Taser, impact weapons, and various chemical agents, all employed to prevent the use of police firearms.
To maintain the skills necessary to handle high-risk situations, SWAT members train rigorously on a bi-weekly basis. Many SWAT members hold instructor ratings in various disciplines and provide instruction to other Department members and law enforcement agencies.
The Raytown Police Department Crisis Negotiations Team (CNT) is a volunteer 
program currently consisting of a 4 member team and a team commander. The team’s primary responsibility is providing negotiations for hostage or barricade situations. Such negotiation responses are critical to the law enforcement goal of resolving potentially lethal encounters peacefully without injury or death to the hostage, bystanders, officers or suspect/subject. The negotiations program trains its negotiators in tactics and communications techniques used in crisis intervention.
Members of the CNT have been screened through a selection process. Prior to being allowed to negotiate, members must attend and successfully complete a vetted training program. Currently, that training standard is met by attending a hostage negotiations program provided by the International Association of Hostage Negotiators (IAHN). Negotiators are required to recertify with IAHN every two years. However, this is not the only program attended by CNT members. The CNT also conducts team training once a month. It is not unusual for the CNT to train with other area teams.
In the interest of professional development, members of the CNT are affiliated with the newly formed Missouri Association of Hostage Negotiators. Some members are also affiliated with the National Tactical Officers Association. Each of these entities are a conduit by which CNT members can stay abreast of current trends and developments in the area of Crisis Negotiations.
The program offers its members many challenging training and operational opportunities however, it also requires its members to make personal sacrifices. Call outs can occur at the most inconvenient times, but members must be available to respond. Almost all Negotiation training is conducted during the members’ scheduled days off, but regular attendance is mandatory to ensure team cohesion.
The mission of the Public Information Unit (PIU) is to provide a cooperative climate 
in which the public may obtain information on matters of public interest in a way that does not hamper police operations or harm individual personal rights. The Department is committed to informing the community of news, incidents, and events within the public domain.
The PIU’s responsibilities include writing press releases, giving interviews, managing and executing press conferences, managing news media/press personnel at crime/incident scenes, and managing the Department’s social media sites, all to enhance communication between the Police Department and the public.
The PIU is a volunteer based Unit that is made up of personnel from many Divisions and assignments. Public Information Officers (PIO’s) rotate being “on-call,” so that there is a PIO available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. PIO’s must complete a basic Public Information Officer course and participate in many in-house training days each year.
All Media inquiries should be directed to the Duty Public Information Officer at 816-286-4893.
The mission of the Awards & Uniforms Standardization Unit (AUSU) is to ensure the 
Raytown Police Department and its employees maintains a professional appearance. They will recognize exemplary performance, organize social activities and create an environment that fosters high morale.
The AUSU is a volunteer based Unit that has several areas of concern: Uniforms, Awards and Policies, Awards Ceremony, Social and Building Improvement. Members are responsible for bringing uniform ideas, questions and concerns to the Unit, from their individual divisions within the Police Department, and to discuss any positive changes that could be made. For Awards and Policies, members of the unit work with the Professional Standards Unit to make sure all of the awards policies are correct and to ensure that only eligible individuals receive awards. The entire Unit helps organize and host the Department's Annual Awards Ceremony. Lastly, unit members identify ideas and organize events to increase morale about the department as well as improve the working environment of the building.
Awards Recipients
2016 Officer of the Year
Officer Joe Holt was selected by his peers as 2016 Officer of the Year. Ofc. Holt is a team player and in the last year Holt went above and beyond his duties as a patrol officer in his efforts to effectively police problematic residences known for illegal narcotics active and various other crimes. He completed detailed investigations on the residences, working with the surrounding neighbors upset about the reoccurring criminal acts. He gave away several of his scheduled days off work to complete his investigations, to better serve the community. Ofc. Holt was so enthusiastic about investigating these problematic residences, he went above and beyond, learning how to apply for, obtain and serve search warrants on them, a skill typically learned in the Investigations Unit, a unit Holt had not yet been in. Ofc. Holt has also invested his time and personal money to assist at-risk youth.
Prior Officer of the Year Recipients
- Nathan Brand
- Jimmy Wolsey
- Shawn Didde
- Uriel Ojeda
- Chris Shrout
- Jeremy Riddle
- Jared Rogers
- Randy Hudspeth
2016 Civilian of the Year
Detention Technician Sara Egan was selected by her peers as 2016 Civilian of the Year. Det. Tech. Egan has done an outstanding job her first year with the department. She is able to professionally assert herself and handle stressful situations within the detention unit. Det. Tech. Egan is eager to assist officers in any way that she can, and regularly goes above and beyond her duties to do so. On numerous occasions, Det. Tech. Egan has located Felony warrants that were overlooked during the arrest process, and assists Raytown Police Communications Techs, when they are busy, performing computer inquiries to help officers in the field. She consistently shows her superior knowledge of the police systems and often finds suspects real names, warrants under aliases, and warrants which may have otherwise gone not found. On one occasion, an arrest was made on a man that refused to identify himself. After being processed under one name, a clue that the man had lied to officers was overheard by Egan and used various social media sites to locate more information about the inmate. Det. Tech. Egan discovered that the suspect had indeed lied to officers about his name, with which was associated over $100,000 dollars in felony warrants. That suspect has gone on to be charged with felon in possession of a weapon, and stealing of a motor vehicle.
Prior Civilian of the Year Recipients
- Debbie Pisciotta
- Kyle Stoker
- Bronna Durgan
- Cathy Mulhearn
- Krystyna Fitzwater
- Nicole Growney
- Beth Bennett
- Lora Shireman
2016 Reserve Officer of the Year
Reserve Officer Melvin Norrington was selected by his peers as 2016 Reserve Officer of the Year. Ofc. Norrington proves week after week his dedication to make sure that the official and off duty posts for the department are filled. He takes time out of his weekends to work the streets during the busy months of the summer and he routinely fills in around the city at off duty posts. Ofc. Norrington is a great officer, very nice, hardworking, always friendly, great attitude and gets along well with civilians and officers alike and always willing to asist when needed.
Prior Reserve Officer of the Year Recipients
- Melvin Norrington
- Jeff Keith
- Ralph Vogel
- John Snyder
- Neal Byers
- Frank Welch
2016 Volunteer of the Year
Ms. Schutte was selected as the 2016 Volunteer of the year because she has spent countless hours lending assistance to the effort to make the Volunteer Corps for the Raytown Police Department a successful venture. Ms. Schutte was among the first participants in the Citizen’s Police Academy and she went out of her way to assist with the project even as a participant. Since then, and even before we tried to formally assemble a group of “official” volunteers, she was helping the CSU Director with administrative tasks, equipment inventory and maintenance and any other thing that would help assure the effort would succeed. The number of hours Ms. Schutte donated to the support of the Volunteer Corps and the Civilian Police Academy was invaluable and helps ensure that this service to the community can become a sustained and productive reality. As the Volunteer Corps seeks to assume the planning and administration of the Citizens Police Academy, the annual Safety Fair, the Drug Take-Back Program and other Community Service programs, Kathie Schutte’s steadfast support, sacrifice and personal attention have been a hallmark
Prior Volunteer of the Year Recipients
Todd Hembree
2016 Lifesaving Award
Ofc. Sarah Lewey (left)
On July 19th, 2016, Officer Sarah Lewey and other officers received a call to a business in regard to a gunshot wound to the leg. Upon arrival, the officers found the victim in the conference room where he had accidentally shot himself in the leg while showing his handgun to another individual. The victim apparently hit his femoral artery due to the amount of blood still coming from the wound, where they had tried to use a belt for a tourniquet. The wound was still bleeding a large amount of blood and Officer Lewey grabbed her tourniquet and took the belt off and put her tourniquet on stopping the bleeding until EMS arrived and transported the victim to the Hospital. Due to Ofc. Lewey applying her tourniquet and stopping the bleeding, she saved the victim’s life.
Ofc. Erica Weiglhofer (right)
On July 5th, 2016, Officer Erica Weiglhofer was dispatched to a residence in regarding to a request for help from EMS. Upon arrival, Ofc. Weiglhofer found a young woman lying in the yard, not breathing and without a pulse. Ofc. Weiglhofer immediately began CPR and was able to locate a faint pulse after several minutes. Once paramedics arrived, the young woman was transported to the hospital, where she was placed in ICU for several days. Since then, she has made a full recovery, though doctors were unable to determine why she went into cardiac arrest. Due to Ofc. Weiglhofer applying CPR to restart her heart, she saved the victim's life.
Prior Lifesaving Award Recipients
- Frank McDevitt
- Tom Greer
- Shawn Didde
- Daniel Spyers
- Jerrol Anderson
- Jeremy Riddle
- Jared Rogers
- Evan Hartenstein
- Brett Clear
- Gil Anderson
- Mike McDonough