By Chief Robert M. Carlson
Lester Prairie Police Department

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 three active part-time police officers. The full-time police officers donated 126 hours ($2,434) above their normal 2,080 hours worked. They also donated 1,310.5 hours of emergency on-call time in 2007.

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 (fifth and eighth 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 am also the proud recipient of the 2007 Minnesota Law Enforcement Officer of the Year award presented by the Minnesota American Legion.

I represent the City of Lester Prairie in the following organizations and associations: McLeod County Chiefs of Police Association, president; 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 (Lester Prairie 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 continue to have office hours from 9 a.m. to noon, 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 has been a valuable employee of the city for more than seven years.

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 second-place award for the 2007 Minnesota Safe and Sober Challenge. We received a $2,000 grant, and will use the money for purchasing a new in-squad video camera system. We previously won the first-place award in 2005 and 2006.

Officer Brenda Conzet has also been a valuable employee, and has been employed by the city for four years. She is in charge of the Crime Prevention Detail, Citizens Academy, is a Use of Force instructor, and the fire department liaison. Officer Conzet works a regular night patrol shift. She, in her off time, has developed training presentations for community organizations and businesses. She is a valuable presenter and communicator for the police department.

2007 highlights and information

The number of violent and victim crimes is about the same as last year. We responded to 23 domestic disturbances in 2007, and 20 in 2006. We also had 15 assault investigations in 2007, compared to nine in 2006.

The number of narcotic cases is down from previous years, but this doesn’t mean the drug problem has been eliminated in Lester Prairie. We have supplied intelligence information to the Southwest Metro Drug Task Force about narcotic activity in Lester Prairie, which led to arrests and search warrants in neighboring towns. The use of methamphetamine is down, but we continue to see a comeback in the use of cocaine and marijuana.

Some of our “major” case investigations and arrests included the following:

• July 1, 2007 – Ezequiel Ramos, 20, of Winthrop was arrested on a felony charge of second degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Ramos was attempting to fight with a 16-year-old juvenile male near the city pool. Ramos displayed a large knife during the fight.

• July 8, 2007 – A “smash and grab” burglary took place at The Depot/Lester’s Liquors. After a long search and investigation, we apprehended Luis Enrique Gonzalez, 20, no permanent address; Marco Antonio Rangel, 18, Glencoe; and Javier Alejandro Garcia, 20, Laredo, Texas. All were arrested, charged with burglary, and convicted.

• October 2007 – “Home invasion causes early morning drama in Lester Prairie.” We arrested Cody William Brown, 18, no current address, and a 17-year-old juvenile for entering a residence without permission.

There are more cases than those listed above, but, the above three received the most media attention.

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 our second Citizens Academy. Citizens have always asked us what we do, and this has been their opportunity to see and understand what we do for a living.

We have continued with other proactive police activities to include fifth grade and junior high DARE, bicycle safety, use of 911 and “stranger danger” and Cub Scout presentations. This will also be our seventh 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 our community.

We have seen problems involving alcohol, drugs, or chemical imbalance this past year, and investigated 13 mental health or detoxification (serious overage of alcohol consumption) holds. The number of mental health and detoxification holds is down by two from 2006 and three from 2005, but we had only three in the year 2004. I 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, 34 in 2006, and 38 in 2007. This is an increase from last year, but I expect that number to be higher because of foreclosures and properties left for foreclosure. The properties were left in disarray, and since the previous owners were being evicted, they didn’t care about the condition of the properties.

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. These include habitual barking dogs, dogs at large, and now, stray or abandoned cats. The Lester Prairie Police Department impounded 14 dogs and a “handful” of cats in 2006, and 13 dogs and a “handful” of cats in 2007. We have issued citations for continual animal problems. We never issue a citation on the first violation, but after several complaints, we have no choice.

The number of animal problem complaints went from 40 in 2005, to 64 in 2006, and went down to 48 for 2007. There is no real remedy to this problem, and it was comforting to see a decline in 2007.

One of our dangerous dog case investigations created considerable work for the police department, city council, and city attorney. The case of “Lexy” created a lot of media attention, but the owner of the dog has been evicted from his residence and no longer lives in Lester Prairie.

In 2007, the police department investigated several felony thefts, gross misdemeanor thefts, and misdemeanor thefts. The thefts 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 percent of them are on probation for narcotics. The need for money to buy narcotics is the reason for the financial crimes.

The number of total arrests (taken to detention or jail) went down from 71 in 2006, to 59 in 2007. There were 25 people arrested for warrants in 2006, and 17 in 2007. We had 18 arrests for driving under the influence in 2006, and 18 in 2007. This is the third year in a row we have accumulated 18 arrests for DUI.

We issued a total of 369 citations, which averaged to one citation a day. There were 826 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 the number listed above, or e-mail me at chief@lesterprairiemn.us