ALBERT LEA POLICE DEPARTMENT
Thomas D. Menning, Chief of Police
Providing law enforcement and public safety services
are critical roles for local units of government. To the degree that citizens feel safe, secure and protected in
their homes and in their communities is a subjective measure of “quality of
life.” People may not necessarily want
to interact with the police, but they want to know they are there. Issues surrounding crime and criminals, and
the police response to both, are important.
It
is common knowledge that a law enforcement officer’s job is challenging, tough
and, too often, unsung. In addition to
the monotonous work, there is much unpleasantness to deal with – contact with
criminals and disturbed individuals, the constant threat of injury or death,
and routine observation of serious injury and death. The community of Albert Lea is fortunate to have on their police
department a group of special individuals, who chose to go into law
enforcement, excel, and make a positive contribution to the “quality of life.”
A community’s role in policing and public safety is
complicated. Essential to community
policing is the belief that meaningful change can occur when law enforcement
agencies empower officers to make decisions, think creatively and work closely
with their community to identify and solve problems.
Unlike the preceding two years, which saw an
inordinate number of individuals leave the department because of retirement and
resignation, the year 2001 witnessed only one individual retirement, Wayne
Hedalen. To bring the department back
up to its authorized strength, two new officers were hired, Tim Harves and Adam
Conn.
In the last two years the department has undergone a
20% change in sworn personnel. The end
result is a patrol division comprised of much younger and less experienced
officers. The newly hired officers are
aided in their progression through exposure to a well-developed, twelve-week
field-training program. The program
employs specially trained senior officers who act as instructors and mentors
for the new recruit.
Two important redeployment decisions that were made
in 2001 will impact how the department carries out its mission in 2002.
For as long as there has been a South Central Drug
Investigative Unit (Drug Task Force), the Albert Lea Police Department has been
a member. (The SCDIU is comprised of 17
different law enforcement agencies. The
most prominent members include the police departments of Albert Lea, Faribault,
Northfield, Owatonna, Waseca, Wells, and the sheriffs departments of Faribault,
Freeborn, Rice, Steele, and Waseca counties.)
Historically, no other agency has contributed as much to the mission of
the Task Force as the Albert Lea Police Department. The year 2001 was the first year in the Task Force existence that
officers of the Albert Lea Police Department had not been assigned to the Task
Force as a field agent. No other agency
can make that claim. After careful
consideration, with input from the entire police department staff, the decision
has been made to once again assign an officer of our department to the Task
Force as a field agent.
Likewise, after much deliberation, the decision has been made to re-implement a K-9 program on the police department. The purchase of one dog is due to take place in mid February of 2002. The dog and his handler will undergo extensive training prior to duty assignment.
Officers
are in daily contact with citizens, some law abiding, some not. Officers must be competent, tolerant of
diversity, and willing to learn and grow.
Following
is a summation of the training that officers of the police department received
in 2001. Not included in these totals
is the monthly tactical training received be members of the Emergency Response
Unit, nor the periodic firearms training received by the officers.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
SUMMARY
TOTAL
DESCRIPTION ATTENDEES HOURS HOURS
INITIAL RESPONDING
OFFICER TRAINING
Pursuit
Driving School 9 8 72
2-day
Driving School 4 16 64
Use of
force/baton training 28 8 224
CPR 27 4 108
Skywarn
Weather Class 7 3 21
Victims
of Elder Abuse Training 19 3 57
Drug
Identification Training 27 2 54
Racial
Profiling 7 6 42
SPECIALIZED TRAINING
Annual
Juvenile Officers Institute 2 16 32
Police
Mountain Bike School 2 40 80
Field
Training Officer 1 40 40
National
Association of School Resource Officers 1 21 21
Firearms Instructor Update 1 16 16
Crime
Scene Processing 1 18 18
MN Sex
Crimes Investigators Assoc Conference 2 15 30
Crime
Scene Investigation 2 40 80
Peacemaker
Training 3 15 45
MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
MN
Chief of Police Conference 1 26 26
Field
Training Supervisor 1 15 15
Police
Supervisor Training 1 28 28
DISPATCHERS
Datamaxx
Dispatch Training 1 1 7
CJIS
Operator Course 1 40 40
Criminal
Justice Data Network Conference 2 21 21
MN
Animal Control Association Training 2 4 8
Having an officer assigned to the high school and
junior high allows them to reach out to students in an effort to teach them
crucial information on the prevention of crime and the dangers of drugs. The Police/Liaison Officer also serve as
sounding boards for the students, an empathetic and understanding role model
that can listen to concerns and direct students to the information they need to
make good choices. The PSLO encourages
the students to do the right thing, and in that process has the potential to
help students resist negative influences.
DARE is a drug-education curriculum being taught by police department officers to District #241 fifth-graders. Without question, DARE has provided significant numbers of our children with the support and information they’ve needed to make the right decisions about drugs. No one would deny the fact that every year DARE establishes invaluable relationships between police officers and Albert Lea’s youth.
CRIME
The
following statistics are representative of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)
program to which the Albert Lea Police Department is a contributing
agency. Our Records Unit reports local
criminal offense statistics to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
for compilation of state statistics.
That agency in turn submits Minnesota statistics to the Federal Bureau
of Investigation for inclusion in nation crime statistics.
All criminal offenses reported within Albert Lea are
categorized according to the standardized definitions developed for the UCR
program. A single crime is carried for
each incident. The UCR program does not
include traffic violations. UCR
statistics include only jurisdictional population figures along with reported
crime, clearance, or arrest data.
At
any time it is difficult to specifically isolate the factors that have caused a
fluctuation in crime rates. It is
probably not wise for police to claim that the improvement in crime statistics
was solely the result of improvement in law enforcement operations. Other factors, such as the economy, the
weather, jobless rates, human behavior patterns, incarceration rates, and
change in the way drug dealers do business must be included as potential reason
for fluctuation in crime statistics.
Analyzing social trends takes time, and, even in the best of times, one
never really has a clear and convincing picture of which factors are most
important in causing shifts in behavior patterns. The UCR clearance rate was simply not designed to provide a
complete assessment of law enforcement effectiveness.
*ALBERT LEA
2001 CRIME STATISTICS
There were 20,958 calls-for-service in the City of
Albert Lea in 2001
(Calls-for-service are not
synonymous with criminal acts.)
Class I
Crimes
Murder.....................................................................................1
Rape........................................................................................1
Robbery...................................................................................3
Burglary.................................................................................65
Theft...................................................................................…376
Vehicle
Theft..........................................................................27
Arson......................................................................................2
Class II
Crimes
Simple
Assault.....................................................................…93
Fraud/Forgery........................................................................598
Vandalism..............................................................................153
Sex
Offenses.........................................................................…1
Drug/Liquor............................................................................141
D.U.I......................................................................................153
Disorderly.................................................................................45
Adults
arrested.......................................................................1269
Juveniles
arrested.....................................................................280
*Class I and Class
II crime statistics are from January through November due to a delay in
receiving statistical data from the state.
We have the capability within our records department
to breakdown our total calls for service into 107 categories. The yearly totals on some of the more
noteworthy categories, not reported as a class one or class two crimes, are as
follows:
Vehicle
Hit & Run Accidents 170
Traffic
Accident, No Injury 540
Injury
Traffic Accidents 76
Juvenile
Problems 525
Domestics 426
Animal
Control Complaints 1,038
Attempt
to Locate 137
Bar
Checks 480
Child
Abuse/Neglect Report 97
Child
in Need of Protection 39
Harassment/Stalking
Complaints 267
Liquor
Law Violations 27
Medical
Assistance 604
Missing
Person 21
Noise
Complaint/Disturbance 422
Permit
to Carry Handgun 55
Permit
to Purchase Handgun 88
Juvenile
Runaway Report 91
Suspicious
Person or Vehicle 495
Traffic
Stops 5,470
Violation
of Order For Protection 105
ANIMAL CONTROL
The Albert Lea Animal Shelter received 593 animals
in the year 2001. Again, an increase of
over 100 in 1998, a record low year and up 50 animals from last year. Owner surrendered dogs are down 24 from last
year.
No animals were accepted from other shelters because
of the increase in calls and animals.
There were 26 feral cats trapped.
Adoptions increased 17% from 2000 for a record year. The number of animals claimed is up 29 from
2000.
The Frances Curran Foundation provided the animal
shelter with a $3500 spaying and neutering grant. Private donations amounted to $380. Twenty dogs were neutered, twelve dogs were spayed, twenty-five
cats were neutered, and twenty cats were spayed with the grant money in 2001.
Animal control gave four bite prevention workshops
to area pre-schools, had one radio program on K.A.T.E. radio and one program on
K.A.A.L. television as a public service.
Below are the 2001 statistics:
Animals
Licensed 1005
Rabbits
impounded 0
Wildlife
impounded 1
Domestic
Birds impounded 1
Animals
Adopted 180
Animals
Claimed 147
Animals
Euthanized 253
Income $7,989