Connect with us

Star Tribune

Falcon Heights to end contract with Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office for police services

Avatar

Published

on


Falcon Heights officials say the city won’t renew its contract for law enforcement services with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office.

The contract between the sheriff’s office and the small St. Paul suburb surrounding the State Fairgrounds expires at the end of the year. The city and the Sheriff’s Office traded letters over the past week, formally agreeing to terminate the arrangement that has been in place since late 2017.

The city pays $1.3 million a year to the sheriff’s office for services.

“The city does not have issue with the Sheriff’s Office or the services we have received,” City Administrator Jack Linehan said at a March 22 City Council meeting. The council at that meeting directed Linehan to notify the Sheriff’s Office of they city’s intention to look elsewhere for law enforcement services.

In his response, Sheriff Bob Fletcher said the move “is in everyone’s best interest,” noting that providing patrol, enforcement, crime prevention, investigative and other services for the city of about 5,000 people was never a perfect fit.

Falcon Heights does not border any of the other communities the sheriff’s office serves, and that requires deputies to travel long distances, sometimes at high speeds with lights and sirens activated, when responding to emergencies, Fletcher said.

“The lack of a contiguous service area requires additional staffing to ensure deputy and resident safety,” Fletcher said.

This is not the first time Falcon Heights has exercised its option to end the contract, which requires that either party provide a nine-month notice. In 2021, the city and the sheriff’s office mutually agreed to part ways. But Falcon Heights was unable to find another partner to provide law enforcement services, and remained with the sheriff’s office.

It was not immediately clear where Falcon Heights will go from here. The city will work with a consultant to explore options for a long-term law enforcement contract, according to a city newsletter posted online Monday.

Fletcher outlined possible options, including contracting with St. Paul, Roseville or the Minnesota State Fair police departments. The city could also renew a contract with neighboring St. Anthony. Falcon Heights severed its service agreement with St. Anthony after former St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez shot and killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop in July 2016.

Yanez was acquitted of one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm.

Falcon Heights could also form its own police department or opt for a hybrid model. The city would be responsible for some police services, such as patrolling, and contract with outside agencies for other law enforcement services, such as investigations.

Falcon Heights will resume its contract with the sheriff’s office if no suitable options are found, the city said.

“Whichever option you select, please know that the Sheriff’s Office stands ready to assist you,” Fletcher wrote.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings

Star Tribune

Celebrity chef Justin Sutherland gets two years of probation for threatening girlfriend

Avatar

Published

on


According to the criminal complaint:

Police were twice called on June 28 to an apartment in the 800 block of Front Avenue. During the first call, a woman told officers that everything was fine despite previously reporting that Sutherland had choked her and tried kicking her out of the apartment.

During the second call about 90 minutes later, the woman told police that Sutherland had briefly squeezed her neck with both hands, said “I want you dead,” pointed a gun at her and hit her in the chest with it, and at one point said he would shoot her if she came back after running off. Officers then arrested Sutherland.

Staff writers Paul Walsh and Alex Chhith contributed to this story.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Star Tribune

Hennepin Juvenile Detention Center vows to boost staff, fix violations

Avatar

Published

on


Operators of the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) have agreed to consolidate housing units, create a new programming schedule and retrain correctional officers in an effort to satisfy state regulators, who rebuked the downtown facility last month for violating resident rights.

Changes come in the wake of a scathing inspection report that accused the center of placing minors in seclusion without good reason to compensate for ongoing staff shortages. An annual audit by the Department of Corrections found that teens were frequently locked in their rooms for long stretches, due to a lack of personnel rather than bad behavior.

In response, county officials vowed to bolster staffing and retrain all officers tasked with performing wellness checks. Last week, the facility closed its “orientation mod,” typically reserved for new admissions, and combined male age groups to reduce the number of living units and provide heightened supervision.

The moves, including a new schedule, are expected to help prevent the undue cancellation of recreation, parent visits and other privileges to children in their custody.

“[Previous] staffing levels did not allow for all units to run programming simultaneously while having sufficient staff available to respond to incidents and emergencies in the building,” JDC Superintendent Dana Swayze wrote in a seven-page letter to state inspectors. “Programming is only cancelled on an as-needed basis based on the JDC’s ability to safely accommodate [it].”

In a Dec. 4 email to the County Board, Mary Ellen Heng, acting director of Hennepin’s Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation, assured elected officials that they had begun taking corrective actions but asserted that some of the report’s findings lacked context.

Heng pointed to a violation where teens were allegedly confined without cause, even when multiple correctional officers were sitting in a nearby office. She explained that, during the dates of the inspection earlier this fall, several officers observed in the office were still in training — and therefore not permitted to interact with the youths alone.

She also contended that while programming has been modified by staffing limitations, “this additional room time is not reflective of punishment, disciplinary techniques, or restrictive procedures.”



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Star Tribune

St. Paul leaders call on community to end gun violence

Avatar

Published

on


Tired of surging gun violence across St. Paul, community leaders and police are asking residents to help create a safer city.

The call for community support came Thursday night when officials from the St. Paul NAACP, St. Paul Police Department, Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the African American Leadership Council gathered at Arlington Hills Lutheran Church to talk about ways to decrease gun violence in the city.

St. Paul has recorded 30 homicides so far this year according to a Star Tribune database, two fewer than last year. But four of this year’s homicides happened in the same week, frustrating law enforcement and alarming residents.

St. Paul NAACP President Richard Pittman Sr. said that solutions to gun violence are “right here, in the room.” But without the community’s help, Pittman said their efforts could fall short.

“Over the last several weeks and months, we have experienced an uptick in violent crimes in our communities. [That’s] turned on a light bulb that it’s time [to] not have the police feeling like all the pressure is on them,” Pittman said. “Nobody wants to the responsibility of having to shoot someone down in the street. Nobody wants the responsibility of hurting somebody’s family. We all want the best outcome.”

Attendee Carrie Johnson worried generational trauma is derailing youth’s behavior, adding that she’s seen boys in middle school punch girls in the face. Migdalia Baez said mothers living along Rice Street feel they have nowhere to turn for help in redirecting their children. Some worry that their child would be incarcerated if they ask for help.

Larry McPherson, a violence interrupter for 21 Days of Peace St. Paul, said some issues stem from youth with no guidance. McPherson and others patrol hot spots for crime across the city, including near the Midway neighborhood’s Kimball Court apartments where fentanyl drove a spike in robberies and drug violations.

“We’ve got a lot of mental health [struggles]. We’ve got a lot of doggone drug addiction that’s going on in our neighborhoods. We all got the best interests at hand for all people in our community, but we’re just not working fast enough,” McPherson said. “Until we get feet on the ground, people coming out of their own community and standing up for this real cause to take back the community, we’re going to have the same outcome.”



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024 Breaking MN

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.