Topeka Tries Out Live Drama in Crime Fight : Robbers Star Losers on ‘Radio C.O.P.’

It may not have the machine-gun sound effects of the “Gangbusters” radio show of the 1930s, but a local experiment in radio crime drama appears to be working, both for listeners and the police.

“We want to alert businesses of robberies in progress because some robbers rob more than one place in one day,” said Sgt. Richard Johnson.

That desire led to the Radio C.O.P.--Call Our Police--shows that five local stations have aired since Feb. 1. Some Topeka broadcasters say the joint effort of police and commercial radio is the first of its kind in the country.

“It also tells other would-be robbers or the robber that your description is being broadcast out over radio for everyone to be looking for you,” said Johnson, a detective in charge of Radio C.O.P.

Radio C.O.P. allows Topeka police to broadcast, between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., descriptions of robbers minutes after a business robbery occurs. The bulletins usually last no longer than 60 seconds. Listeners are warned to take no action beyond calling police if they think they see the suspect.

It is too early to say for sure if Radio C.O.P. has had an effect, Johnson said. Officials at several radio stations, however, say listeners like the bulletins.

“It’s kind of exciting for the listener when it comes on,” said Dave Alexander, program manager for WIBW-FM, a “fairly music-intensive hit-oriented station.”

“It has that kind of instant effect: Somebody is at large right now. You think Eliot Ness might jump out at any time, going after the bad guys,” Alexander said.

“I think it’s a great program. It’s a great service for the community,” said Chuck Urban, program director at KHUM-FM, an adult contemporary station.

Because of Radio C.O.P., a robber is “not only going to have the police on his tail, but every station in town is going to be broadcasting what he just did,” Urban said.

“It helps us know what’s going on and we can let the listeners know what’s going on,” said Cynthia Bervert, news director at KTPK-FM, a modern country station.

It all starts with Johnson, who monitors the police radio for robbery calls.

“I will write that information down, then call each radio station and give them the information, which they in turn interrupt their normal broadcasting to deliver,” Johnson said. “Our response time is less than 15 minutes” and he said he makes the calls only when he has a good description of the robber.

Since April 4, the Radio C.O.P. bulletins have also been routed over two-way radios to the 400 utility company workers out on the streets at any one time, Johnson said.

Topeka police have other crime-prevention programs in place so it is hard to determine the impact of Radio C.O.P., he said.

“We have one success story to my knowledge,” Johnson said. “We did link one description of the robbery car by a person who heard it on the radio,” he said.

“We do get better descriptions of people” because the bulletins make citizens more aware of what is happening around them, he said.

What is more, Johnson said: “We’ve only had one incident of two robberies by the same person on the same day,” and that was when the program was new and generally unknown.

“Maybe major-market radio stations don’t like to get involved in that kind of thing. Some people might say it sounds too hokey or too dumb. I think if people see results out of this type of program, it will spread to other communities,” Urban said.

The Radio C.O.P. bulletins are so short and infrequent that they are only a minor interruption to normal programming, Alexander said.