A progressive police department
By Bob Carlson
Lester Prairie Police Chief
The Lester Prairie Police Department is a proactive police department involved in Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). The department has three full-time police officers and 5 active part-time police officers. There was no sick time used by any of the full time police officers this year and they donated 93 hours above their normal 2080 hours worked. Part-time officers worked an average of seven shifts a month. Part-time officers are needed to fill in for vacation, training, special summer shifts and sick time. The part-time officers have also been used for special activities (i.e. Prairie Days, Citizens Academy and the Bicycle Rodeo) and emergencies (i.e. barricaded subjects and suicides).
As the Chief of Police I am responsible for the administration of the department. I work a regular patrol shift during the day, teach Drug Abuse Resistance Education (5th and 8th grade) during the school year, serve as the school liaison officer, and work with the City Council and City Department Heads to make the city work efficiently and effectively. I also represent the City of Lester Prairie in the following organizations and associations.
President of the McLeod County Chiefs of Police Association, Lester Prairie Community Task Force, MEADA (Methamphetamine Education and Drug Awareness Coalition of McLeod County, Southwest Metro Drug Task Force (Non-Voting Member), Student Assessment Team (L.P. School) and the Domestic Violence Task Force. I am proud to say we have worked on and received several grants this year that have helped keep equipment and other costs down.
I have had office hours from 9-00 a.m. to 12-00 p.m. and it continues to provide more visibility and availability to the public to meet with us face to face. We also have e-mail as a communication tool with the public. The e-mail address is chief@lesterprairiemn.us.
Officer Mark Thiry is the senior police officer of the department and was added as a full-time officer in March 2001 as a result of the (COPS) Grant. Officer Thiry is in charge of the Safe and Sober Challenge Program and is our Firearms and TASER instructor. Under Thiry’s direction, the Lester Prairie Police Department received the first place award for the second year in a row during the 2006 Minnesota Safe and Sober Challenge. We received a $3,000.00 grant for first place and will use the money for purchasing a new in squad video camera system.
Officer Brenda Conzet is the latest full-time officer hired by the department (August 2004). She is in charge of the Crime Prevention Detail, Citizens Academy and the Fire Department Liaison. Officer Conzet works a regular night patrol shift. In her spare time and off duty she worked on the History of the Lester Prairie Police Department which the McLeod County Historical Society was very grateful to obtain. She and Assistant City Clerk Darla Simon will be working on the City Web site this spring.
The amount of violent and victim crimes is down slightly from the previous year. The products used as an ingredient for methamphetamine was placed behind the counter at pharmacies and may have impacted the production of the drug. It doesn’t mean the drug problem is eliminated in Lester Prairie. We have seen a comeback in the use of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. The criminal sexual conduct crimes increased from 4 (2005) to 10 (2006) and involved juveniles more than adults. I do not see any particular reason for the increase and believe it’s just a statistical increase. I do plan on monitoring the cases as they come in to determine if there are any trends. Most of the cases were forwarded for prosecution which resulted in several convictions.
We are very proud of our proactive policing efforts as we presented programs to the communities that were designed to protect our citizens from crime and educate them in the activities of the police department. Officer Conzet conducted the first Citizens Police Academy and will start the second Citizens Academy this spring. Citizens have always asked us what we do and this is their opportunity to see and understand what we do for a living. We have continued with other proactive police activities to include 5th grade and Junior High DARE, Bicycle Safety, Use of 911 and “stranger danger” and Cub Scout presentations. This will also be our sixth year of participating in the “cards for kids program”. The Minnesota Crime Prevention Association distributes Minnesota sports cards to member law enforcement agencies that have crime prevention tips on the back of the card. We use these cards as a positive contact with children in ourcommunity.
We have seen problems involving alcohol, drugs or chemical imbalance this past year and investigated fifteen mental health or detoxification (serious overage of alcohol consumption) holds. The number of mental health and detoxification holds is down by one from last year, but, we had only 3 in the year 2004. 1 still believe this number is too high and we will continue to work with the faith community, Lester Prairie Public School, McLeod County Social Services, McLeod County Public Health and the established coalitions. The Lester Prairie Community Task Force and the McLeod County Methamphetamine Education and Drug Awareness (MEADA) Coalition. MEADA was developed to educate youth, families, and citizens on the dangers of drugs with a focus on methamphetamine. The MEADA Coalition of McLeod County brings together families, neighbors, school personnel, law enforcement, county agencies, faith communities and municipalities to help develop a county mind set of zero tolerance for chemical use with a special focus on methamphetamine. The Lester Prairie Police Department attends the meetings and is an active participant.
The second largest problem we have been dealing with is the look and appearance of our community. We had 44 blight and junk investigations in 2005 and 34 in 2006. This is a decrease of 10 from last year, but, the dilapidated property at 100 Maple Street South took a lot of time to investigate. We are still in the process of working with our building inspector and city attorney to improve that property. We received many complaints about how some residents have junk automobiles, piles of garbage and “unkept” properties. We have sent notices to these individuals and have also sent several through the court system where a judge ordered them to clean up their property. The problem still exists today and biannual inspections will need to continue.
The third largest problem is animal complaints. This would include habitual barking dogs, dogs at large and now stray or abandoned cats. The Lester Prairie Police Department impounded 14 dogs and a “hand full” of cats and issued 4 citations for animal problems. We never issue a citation on the first violation, but, after several complaints we have no choice. The amount of animal problem complaints went from 40 in 2005 to 64 in 2006. There is no real remedy to this problem and as the community grows so will the animal problems.
In 2006 the police department had investigated several felony thefts and misdemeanor thefts. The thefts would include identity theft, motor vehicle theft, internet theft and issuance of dishonored checks (“Bad Checks”). I usually make it a habit to check the suspects of these thefts to find out if they are on probation and almost 75% of them are on probation for narcotics. The need for money to buy narcotics is the reason for the financial crimes. The amount of total arrests (taken to detention or jail) went up from 50 in 2005 to 71 in 2006. There were 16 people arrested for warrants in 2005 and 25 in 2006. We had 16 arrests for driving under the influence in 2005 and 18 in 2006. We issued a total of 467 citations which averaged to 1.27 citations a day. There were 965 verbal warnings for traffic or other violations of law or ordinances.
I am very proud of the work we have done and love the community and city council I work for. If I have ever needed anything to protect our community the city has never turned me down.
If you have any questions, concerns or comments please contact me at (320) 395-2100, or e-mail me at chief@lesterprairiemn.us.
