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09 18 15 JTF1 1 The latest from the Mendota Heights Police Department CHIEF Mike Aschenbrener SERGEANTS Eric Petersen Tanner Spicer Peyton Fleming Bobby Lambert POLICE OFFICERS Jerry Murphy John Larrive Todd Rosse Jeff VonFeldt Steven Meyer Denise Urmann Michael Shepard Nick Gorgos Robin Nelson Steve Hilyar Phillip McCarty INVESTIGATIONS Chad Willson SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER Jennifer Fordham SUPPORT STAFF Kim Henning Trista Miller Lisa Brandt Becky Pentel RESERVES Randy Pentel Jim Knox Jeff Parker CHAPLAINS Butch Millett John Snider Alberto Vargas Lynn Liberman Sue Plucker Joel Detlefsen Lenny Andrie SEPTEMBER 18, 2015 “Are you a Rent-a-Cop?” or “Are you a real Police Officer?” are just two of the questions that I get asked during a day in the life of a School Resource Officer, which is the terminology that is currently being used nationwide for licensed police officers who spend their days in a school environment. Sometimes you will still hear, Police Liaison Officer. NASRO or (National Association of School Resource Officers) is a national program that oversees training and certification for SRO’s. Most officers who have this designation, like myself, became a licensed police officer, have worked in a patrol capacity for a length of time and then applies for the position when one becomes available. The other question I get asked regularly is “What do you do all day?” I am so busy most days, that I don’t even remember what I actually did, unless I wrote it down! Some days are nice and peaceful where the students are focused on school work and the halls and classrooms are quiet and my job is more of a counselor role. Many students come to see me if there has been some kind of contact with the criminal justice system and they have questions about the process or next steps. Other kids come see me because they are interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement or the criminal justice field. Other kids come see me simply because they are looking for someone to talk to. Although I wear a full police uniform, I am still a friendly face and a person that kids who need help, can connect with. On the busy days, there are all sorts of things that keep me busy. A few quick examples; medical emergencies, a student crisis (mental health or some other kind of tragedy in the family), student to student conflicts, parent concerns about student issues that spill outside of school hours (mainly via social media), theft reports or minor accidents in the parking lot, sometimes a student is found to be in possession of a prohibited item, sometimes a student is insubordinate to a teacher. Most of these things do not happen frequently, or there is a very small percentage of the students that to which these things happen regularly. Every day is different and much like serving in a patrol capacity, every day is unpredictable. My main purpose, which is the purpose of all School Resource Officers, is to prevent acts of violence. Over the course of the last few years, the perspective on school security is not so much to prevent violence amongst the students, because the vast majority of them come to school for good, not bad but instead, to keep the violence and insanity that happens in our communities from coming into the school and impacting our youth. Some people ask, “Are kids that bad these days that we have to have police officers in schools?” To that I would say, “No, not really, kids are pretty much the same as they have always been. It is actually the other way around. It is society that seems to be the thing that has changed and we want to do everything we can to keep them safe as long as we can.” By: SRO Jennifer Fordham 2 2 MENTAL HEALTH FRIDAY 16:57 HOURS Officers Robin Nelson and Steve Hilyar reported to the police lobby on a welfare check. The RP witnessed a woman with a walker, bags attached to it, walking along side of Hwy 55 so decided to check on her. The RP made several attempts to contact family members as well as the woman’s social worker with no luck. She made contact with Dakota County Crisis who advised them to report to their local police department. Nelson met with the woman who stated that she was kicked out of the Mendota Motel so was going to go to sleep in the park, in someone’s bushes or inbetween places. The woman would go from distraught to crying to angry and yelling. DC Crisis informed Nelson that due to her history of argumentative and physically combative behavior, that no shelter would take her. Nelson then contacted HealthEast who transported her to the hospital on a Health & Welfare Hold. THEFT OF GAS SUNDAY 14:23 HOURS Officer John Larrive responded to a local gas station on a theft of gas report. Upon arrival, he was met by store employee who stated that a purple Dodge Charger with a white stripe down the middle pumped $27.20 worth of gas and drove off without paying. The employee was able to obtain the license plate number of the suspect vehicle. Larrive ran the plate and it did match the vehicle description. A letter was sent to the registered owner. DOMESTIC ASSAULT SUNDAY 18:17 HOURS Officer Steve Hilyar along with Sergeant Peyton Fleming responded to a call on a physical altercation between a male and female along side 35E. Hilyar located the vehicle and saw a male yelling at the female. Hilyar handcuffed the male and made contact with a witness who stated that the car pulled over on the side of the highway, the male then went around and pulled the female out of the car by her hair and throw her down. He then saw the male begin to punch the female repeatedly with closed fists for about a minute. The male was placed under arrest and issued a citation for Domestic Assault. DWI/PROPERTY DAMAGE ACCIDENT SUNDAY 19:36 HOURS Sergeant Peyton Fleming was dispatched to a local gas station on a property damage hit and run accident report. The suspect vehicle was described as an older Ford Explorer. While en route he was flagged down by witness pointing Fleming in the direction of the suspect vehicle. He made contact with the male driver and observed bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and unsteady on his feet. He was asked to perform field sobriety tests in which he failed. He was placed under arrest. The damage on his vehicle was consistent with that at the gas station. MENTAL HEALTH MONDAY 23:01 HOURS Officer Nick Gorgos and Sergeant Peyton Fleming received information that a juvenile female was making threats via Facebook about killing herself. Officers were able to obtain the address of the juvenile and made contact with her. The female admitted to making the threats and stated that her parents were out of state and that someone was to be watching her but only came for an hour. Attempts were made to contact the parents with no luck. Officers were able to obtain her grandparents phone number and spoke with them. They were unsure why the person responsible to stay with her was not there and agreed to come and stay with her. Officers could see cut marks on the female and decided it was best to call HealthEast and have her transported to the hospital on a Health & Welfare Hold. 3 3 09/11 - 09/17 2015 YTD Calls for Service 124 5,176 Citations 8 398 Warnings 16 529 Police Reports 16 796 Response Time Average 4.83 5.40 Check out the MH Crime Map! Click below to search your neighborhood: https://www.raidsonline.com 1101 Victoria Curve, Mendota Heights, MN 55118 If you are a Mendota Heights resident and you are going out of town or on vacation, you can notify MHPD of your outing and we will be more than happy to keep a watchful eye on your home while you are away. The House Check Request online form is available on our website; you can complete a form found in our lobby, or simply give us a call and we’ll help you out. MHPD offers monthly Car Seat Safety Checks. To schedule an appointment, call 651.452.1366 to contact Officer Jennifer Fordham. MHPD has a Medication Disposal Box in the lobby of the PD where Dakota County residents can safely and anonymously dispose of their prescription drugs and over-the-counter medication. Please send us your positive feedback on our staff to: pdrecords@ mendota-heights.com Your feedback is greatly appreciated and helps boost the morale of our staff. HAVE A SAFE WEEK! Way to Go, Team MHPD “UNDER THE RADAR” The good news was that 28 teams participated in the event and $32,641 was raised for Special Olympics! Now for the not so good news… Team WSPPD “WSP CITY LIMITS” defeated us. We will not give up! Until next year WSPPD, until next year (in our evil voice).