MINUTES JOINT COMMITTEE on KANSAS SECURITY Members Present Staff Present Conferees
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Kansas Legislative Research Department December 18, 2017 MINUTES JOINT COMMITTEE ON KANSAS SECURITY October 3-5, 2017 Room 152-S — Statehouse Members Present Representative Kevin Jones, Chairperson Senator Steve Fitzgerald, Vice-chairperson Senator John Doll (October 3 and 5) Senator Pat Pettey Senator Lynn Rogers Representative Michael Houser Representative Jarrod Ousley Representative Louis Ruiz Representative Eric Smith Staff Present Jill Shelley, Kansas Legislative Research Department Aaron Klaassen, Kansas Legislative Research Department James Fisher, Kansas Legislative Research Department Jenna Moyer, Office of Revisor of Statutes Kyle Hamilton, Office of Revisor of Statutes (October 3 [morning] and 5) Connie Burns, Committee Assistant Conferees Kirk Thompson, Director, Kansas Bureau of Investigation Katie Whisman, Kansas Bureau of Investigation Tony Wingartner, Kansas Bureau of Investigation Adam Heflin, Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station Dr. Peter Dorhout, Vice President for Research, Kansas State University Dr. Stephen Higgs, Biosecurity Research Institute, Kansas State University Tim Barr, National Bio and Agro-defense Facility John Moes, Department of Homeland Security Dr. Armir Bahadori, TRIGA Mark II Nuclear Reactor Facility, Kansas State University Jackie McClaskey, Secretary of Agriculture Kenneth Titus, Kansas Department of Agriculture Justin Smith, Kansas Department of Agriculture Sandy Johnson, Kansas Department of Agriculture David Hogg, Kansas Department of Agriculture Sara Shipman, Secretary of Administration Captain Andrew Dean, Capitol Police, Kansas Highway Patrol Jonathan York, Kansas Division of Emergency Management Major General Lee Tafanelli, Kansas Adjutant General Others attending See attached list. Tuesday, October 3, 2017 Morning Session Chairperson Kevin Jones opened the meeting at 10:00 a.m. The Chairperson went over rules on executive session and welcomed Representative Eric Smith to make a few comments on security procedures related to the tour of Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station (Wolf Creek). (Representative Smith formerly worked in security at Wolf Creek.) Crime Trends and Threats to Public Safety Kirk Thompson, Director, Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), provided a brief overview and introduction of presenters to the Committee. Director Thompson stated violent crime in Kansas is a threat to the public safety and the number of violent crimes is increasing for the second year; investigation of major and violent crimes is very time-intensive and complex. The capacity to meet the expectations of citizens, law enforcement partners, and prosecutors across the state is insufficient and the State needs to increase the capacity of staff to meet expectations the KBI will prevent these crimes and find those responsible. Katie Whisman, Executive Officer, KBI, provided an update on Crime Trends and Threats to Public Safety (Attachment 1). The mission of the KBI is to provide professional investigative, laboratory, and criminal justice information services to Kansas criminal justice agencies for the purpose of promoting public safety and preventing crime. The agency is divided into three divisions: investigations, forensic science laboratory, and information services. Each division’s responsibilities were described as follows: ● The Investigations Division. Homicide and other major violent crime, crime against children, governmental integrity and public corruption, and violent or drug-trafficking organizations; ● Forensic Science Laboratory. Biology/DNA/CODIS [Combined DNA Index System] Databank, Chemistry/Controlled Substances, Firearms/Tool marks/SN Restoration, Latents/Footwear/Tiretrack, Questioned Documents, Toxicology, Trace Evidence, and Digital Evidence; and ● Information Services Division. Kansas Incident Based Reporting System, Kansas Offender Registration Program, Automated Fingerprint Identification System, Kansas Central Repository for Criminal History Records Information, and Kansas Criminal Justice Information System Infrastructure. Violent crime in the following categories is above the ten-year average, and numbers have increased in the past two years: ● Murder – 24.4 percent above the ten-year average; ● Rape – 2.1 percent above; Kansas Legislative Research Department 2 Joint Committee on Kansas Security Minutes October 3-5, 2017 ● Robbery – 4.8 percent above; and ● Aggravated Assault/Battery – 6.5 percent above. The numbers of burglary and theft crimes are below the ten-year average, and motor vehicle theft is 13.6 percent above the ten-year average, Ms. Whisman reported. She said criminologists believe motor vehicle theft is replacing burglary as the primary crime of opportunity mostly because of the monetary return and less likelihood of being caught or injured stealing a vehicle than breaking into an occupied dwelling. The KBI believes motor vehicle theft is being used to facilitate the commission of other major crimes, which is a threat to public safety. Ms. Whisman stated the increases in major crimes result in increased demand for KBI investigative services. She noted more than 70.0 percent of Kansas law enforcement agencies have ten or fewer commissioned officers and several have neither detectives nor trained investigators and depend on the KBI to provide that service. Due to capacity restraints, the KBI has had to reevaluate which cases can be investigated. Ms. Whisman reported on increases in major violent crimes in Kansas from 2014 to 2016: murder increased by 46.5 percent (101 in 2014, 148 in 2016); rape increased by 11.2 percent (1,012 in 2014, 1,125 in 2016); robbery increased by 26.2 percent (1,341 in 2014, 1,693 in 2016); and aggravated assault and battery increased 14.1 percent (7,075 in 2014, 8,075 in 2016). In 2016, 157 aggravated sex crimes and 271 aggravated assault and battery cases were reported by jurisdictions with no investigators and these cases were not investigated by KBI. She also stated crimes against children are complex investigations and, because the KBI has only six specially trained agents across the state, the KBI accepts only Jessica’s Law cases. In 2016, 100 physical child abuse or endangerment offenses were reported by jurisdictions with no investigators and were not investigated by the KBI. Ms. Whisman responded to questions on who responds to cases involving children in the custody of the Department for Children and Families. She said if the KBI is not able to accept cases to investigate, then it is left up to local law enforcement. Ms Whisman offered to provide more information on how the KBI investigations staffing numbers compare to those of neighboring states. Ms. Whisman provided the responses from questions from Committee members. Ms. Whisman continued with information on additional types of investigations. The KBI investigates 50-60 cases a year on governmental integrity, such as allegations of public corruption. The KBI investigates most officer involved shootings (OIS) and on average sends eight investigators in response to each OIS incident. The KBI stopped accepting white collar and other financial crimes cases in fiscal year (FY) 2012 and now accepts only cases involving public officials. Losses to Kansans from internet-based financial crimes increased from $3.9 million in 2015 to $7.0 million in 2016. Ms. Whisman discussed a graph showing a general downward trend since FY 2009 in number of funded agent positions. For FY 2017 and FY 2018, the number is 74, down from 98 in FY 2009. She said currently 30.0 percent of authorized positions in the investigation division are vacant. Overtime has seen a 733 percent increase in spending since FY 2012, and the number of cases the KBI has declined has increased by 50 percent. She also briefly discussed a decrease in the number of cases the KBI is able to substantially complete within 90 days, reflecting decreased capacity within the agency. Kansas Legislative Research Department 3 Joint Committee on Kansas Security Minutes October 3-5, 2017 Ms. Whisman identified public safety emerging threats and areas of concern: ● Human trafficking – since 2007, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center has listed 1,276 reports in Kansas and reports 274 cases initiated and 331 victims identified; and ● Drug trafficking – 1) methamphetamine remains the greatest drug threat in region; 2) heroin imports increased sevenfold since 2008; and 3) fentanyl border seizures increased by 83 percent. Ms. Whisman stated criminal intelligence is one of the most valuable yet least understood and utilized resources available to today’s law enforcement community. She reported the agency submitted an enhancement request to fund 13 of the agency’s 17 authorized but unfunded special agent positions. Tony Weingartner, Assistant Director, KBI, provided information on investigation of cybercrimes (Attachment 2). The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) receives approximately 280,000 complaints each year, on average. Kansas is 31st in the number of subjects, 32nd in number of victims, and 33rd in financial loss. Since 2015, Kansas has seen a 9 percent increase in number of victims, 30 percent increase in suspects, and 79 percent increase in dollars lost. Best practices are to establish strong governance, define the “ecosystem” of the state response and responsibilities of each player, develop collaborative public and private relationships, and generate an interlocking response strategy to cyber events. He described the ecosystem in Michigan and the KBI’s vision for its investigation of cybercrime and