Recidivism

In April the Pew Center on the States released an interesting study that found Minnesota had one of the highest criminal recidivism rates in the country. What is recidivism?  It is probably one of the most talked about topics at our weekly meetings where we review crime trends and crime that is occurring in the City.  Recidivism is defined by dictionary.com as “repeated or habitual relapse, as into crime.”  It is the repeat offenders who are committing the majority of our crime in Duluth.

While the validity of the Pew study has been argued by many Minnesota officials, your police will tell you we don’t know where we rank nationally, but we have a serious problem with habitual offenders.   It would be great to see the increased use of GPS monitoring, curfews and geographical restrictions in offender monitoring. The repeat offenders who are not sent to prison should have mandated curfews, geographical restrictions, and police officers on the street should be provided the offender information (I had this information at my finger tips in Wisconsin as a police officer almost 20 years ago-something we still don’t have in Minnesota).  If an officer finds them in violation they are authorized to bring them to jail.  Too often we find chronic offenders out and about at two in the morning in an area they should not be, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, only to find out days later they are on probation. 

Oregon had the greatest reduction in recidivism in the Pew study.  It found “Oregon also experienced the biggest decline in recidivism from 1999 to 2004, a drop of almost 32 percent. Oregon officials attribute their success to a comprehensive approach to reform and a commitment to change that reaches across all levels of government—from the supervision officer in the field, to the judiciary, through the state corrections department and up the ranks of legislative leadership.”

While police are usually the ones who receive the criticism when crime occurs, it is my hope the Pew study will encourage a dialog among our policy makers to improve our State’s response to repeat criminal offenders.  Minnesota’s response to repeat offenders simply needs to improve.  Let’s hope we can move beyond the budget debate soon and get on with improving our criminal justice system’s response to repeat offenders.

GPS and Policing

I recently learned some police departments have invested in GPS monitoring systems and are placing them on habitual offenders (in conjunction with the courts) to reduce recidivism and crime.  Traditionally this has been a probation responsibility, but declining budgets and different focuses has brought police into the mix.  We will begin working with our criminal justice partners to aggressively be seek grants to fund our GPS efforts.

Those departments that are using GPS monitoring have had tremendous results.  I am hopeful we can bring this here to improve our habitual offender monitoring.  Stay tuned.

Guns and Car Burglaries

We've talked about it a lot the last couple of years.  Car burglaries are on the rise.  We continue to see people leave valuables in their cars which are then targets for crooks.  Lately, we've seen a number of cases where people leave their hunting guns in the car and are later stolen.  The last thing we need is more guns in the hands of bad guys.  Please don't leave valuables in your car.....

Life

Two retired Duluth police officers died in the last week.  Former Deputy Chief Bob Larson and Investigator Skip Sorman.  Both these guys dedicated a good portion of their lives to keeping Duluth safe and were good police officers.  Both died from cancer.  God bless both of them and their loved ones.

My wife's uncle just found out today he has between one week and one month to live.  He had just visited us last month and we spent time together fishing and hanging out.  It is another reminder to keep everything in perspective.  I asked myself these questions earlier today;  What would you do if you had between one week and one month to live? Most importantly, what is the most important thing in your life?   This one is easy for me-my family.  

Young Children and Accidents

Everyday I receive updates on important cases our staff have worked on.  Yesterday, I received notice of a one year old who ingested about 40 methadone tablets.  When officers arrived at the home the child was losing consciousness.  He was quickly transported to the hospital and was in critical condition yesterday.  Reading about the incident triggered some memories.

We have infant and toddler deaths all too often.  These deaths are caused by accident, natural causes or are the result of a homicide.  We've had a few infants accidentally suffocated by sleeping parents over the last year or two.  Last summer we had a 15 month old hang himself in a playpen after getting tangled in the blind strings that were dangling into the pen.  There's been a few accidental drownings.  I could go on...

I remember the first toddler death I was involved with vividly.  It was 1994 and I had been an officer for almost two years and until this thought I had seen a fair amount of tragedy in that short time.  This 911 call involved a 16 month old boy who went to sleep and never woke up. When his father went to check on him at midnight he had died.  Arriving second to a volunteer firefighter, I helped perform CPR unsuccessfully on the little guy. 

The next day my shift commander called me at home and told me since I had not yet attended an autopsy, I had to attend that of the little boy.  Watching the autopsy that day is something I will never forget.  I am glad I did not have kids at that time because, while this case was disturbing and very sad, I find with young kids of my own now I am much more bothered by child deaths. When each of my kids hit 16 months old they both had the fine hair and baby soft skin just like that little boy who died.  Needless to say I checked on my kids almost every hour, on the hour during their 16th month of life.  I guess that experience and five other baby/toddler death calls I've been on make me a little paranoid about some things.  

While there are some deaths we can't prevent, there are many more we can.  Nursing moms should not sleep with their infants.  Keep blind cords well above where kids can reach them.  Watch your young children at all times when they are the water.  Don't keep extra blankets and soft sleeping material in an infants crib.  Most importantly, have your infant sleep on their back. 

Water Damage

On Friday a panicked evidence technician stopped me in the police department, said there was a water pipe break in the evidence room and asked if I had seen maintenance.  Evidence was potentially compromised and water was running everywhere.  The last 10-15 years staff has fashioned indoor gutters and designed other contraptions to keep leaky walls and ceilings from from damaging evidence.  A broken pipe was not suppose to happen.   In modern police departments evidence is kept in secure areas not affected by pipes or leaks.  I think most citizens know the challenges we have faced operating out of an 80 year old building.

Fortunately for us staff managed to save evidence before it was ruined and we are down to about three months before we move in to our new building.  To see the location and pictures of the new building click here.

Job Offers

Tuesday and Wednesday this week myself and about a dozen other department members interviewed the final candidates for our next recruit class. The candidates have endured testing, interviews with community members and have progressed to the final phase. 

During last years hiring process almost all of the candidates had military experience.  During this process we did not have as many with military back grounds but, there were about eight who had been pastors or religious leaders at a church.  While there is usually one or two candidates with this connection in each process, I have never seen such a high percentage with religious backgrounds.   It is an interesting connection.

The 12 finalists now face medical screening and in-depth psychological screening before they they enter the academy.  Once in the academy they face 11 weeks of rigorous training before they can hit the streets.  After graduating from the academy they hit the streets in a training program that lasts up to six months before they are certified for solo patrol.   The entire process from the time of application to patrolling on their own takes about 14 months!