INSIDE THIS EDITION. PARALLELS IN POLICING By: Chief Coan. October 2012 Volume 6

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1 October 2012 Volume 6 Proudly serving the cities of Centerville, Circle Pines, and Lexington Centennial Lakes Police Department 54 North Road, Circle Pines, MN Non-Emergency: Phone: Fax: mail@clpdmn.com PARALLELS IN POLICING By: Chief Coan Some people have made hobbies out of traveling the country visiting various historic baseball parks or in going to different amusement parks in order to ride the highest or fastest roller coasters. Over the years I have made a sort of hobby out of riding-along with some of the largest Police Departments in the United States. In all, I have rode-along with the police in fifteen big cities across the country, e.g. New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Detroit, Las Vegas, etc. Most of my ride-alongs have been very interesting and at times pretty exciting experiences; from flying in a police helicopter in Philadelphia, to standing perimeter with an officer during the search for a shooting suspect in San Diego, to patrolling one of the most crime-ridden housing projects in Chicago. Heck, I ve even thought of writing a book about my ride-along experiences. I d eventually like to ride-along with the Washington D.C. Police Department once the National Law Enforcement Museum opens in Being of Irish descent, I d also like to one day ride-along with the Garda (the Irish National Police Force) in Dublin, Ireland. Both agencies would represent the culmination of my self-described hobby. In the meantime though, the Miami Police Department has remained on my bucket list of law enforcement agencies to ride with here in the United States. As such, I recently flew to Miami for a short weekend getaway where I took the opportunity to ride-along with the Miami Police. The Miami Police Department is an internationally accredited law enforcement agency with an authorized staffing level of just over 1,000 sworn officers. The Department provides law enforcement and safety services to a sprawling, multi-cultural city of roughly 400,000 people, with an estimated day-time population of nearly a million. The City of 35 square miles is divided into three police districts which serve some very diverse, distinctive, and in some cases notorious neighborhoods, e.g. Little Haiti, Liberty City, Overtown, Little Havana, Model City, Coral Gables, and Coconut Grove. (Continued on page 8) A Miami Police Patrol Car INSIDE THIS EDITION Parallels in Policing... 1 & 8 Letters of Commendation and Thanks... 2 & 3 It s Back-to-School time... 3 Community Connection.. 4 & 7 A Message from our C.E.R.T Coordinator. 5 Satisfaction with the Police.. 6 New CLPD Squads now in service.. 9 Personnel Update. 9 Liaison Officer List.. 10

2 Letters of Commendation and Thanks CLPD Newsletter 2012 While many of the Centennial Lakes Police Department employee s efforts are commendable and deserve thanks, here are a few letters and comments that have been recently brought to the attention of the Chief of Police. Good afternoon, I just wanted to send along a little thanks. I had a couple officers drive by our house yesterday. They were very polite when I pointed out the cars parked on our road that did not belong there. Shortly after the officers left our neighborhood, the owners of the vehicles came out of the park and left. I am thinking the officers took the extra effort to go into the park to deal with the owners. It is refreshing to see people take the extra effort to help others out. These officers may not know that we are watching them or think we care, but WE DO! Please extend a special thanks to whoever the officers were; we all appreciate the job they do. Thanks, Don Olsen, Vice President Finance/Procurement. Chief Coan, Words can t express to you and your officers how relieved we are for getting the drunks OFF Lake Drive! We ve lived here 33 years. Please Thank your officers! Al and Julianne Halstead. Dear Chief Coan, On Monday, July 2, 2012, the City of Coon Rapids held its annual Independence Day parade, indisputably the second busiest event that our police department and police reserve officers handle each year for traffic and crowd control. The Coon Rapids Police Department was grateful for the assistance of Centennial Lakes Police Department reserve officer Chad Broten for his assistance to our city and our police reserve unit. Thank you. Sincerely, Captain Cary Parks, Coon Rapids Police Department. Good afternoon Chief Coan and Captain Nelson, I am writing today to thank you for the effort Sergeant Aldrich, Officers Zech and Giese and various others from CLPD have put forth to make our use of force training sessions an absolute success. Yesterday was our kick off sessions with 4 total classes held, and the reception has been an absolute success! The guys love it! The professionalism your officers and CSO s have portrayed during this training has been second to none, they have been more than willing to help and answer questions from anyone and everyone. This training has already been worth the time and effort everyone has put into it and will bring our departments even closer when working together on scene and off scene. I have included a few pictures that I thought were ~ 2 ~ good ones. Thank you again for this opportunity. Brad Racutt, Centennial Fire District Training Officer. Use of Force training session. Congratulations to the hundreds of men and women who took part in the Law Enforcement Torch Run Final Leg and Celebration Ceremonies. The presence of Law Enforcement was certainly a Celebration Ceremonies highlight. We are extremely thankful to all those who participated! Sincerely, Your Special Olympics Minnesota Torch Run Staff. Chief, your report looks good. Thanks to you and your officers for participating in the Fete-Des- Lacs and the Centerville Lions

3 events this weekend. The ball game between the police/fire and the business people this weekend, looks likely they (the police) NEEDED YOUR HELP VERY MUCH. Maybe they can do better next year. Tom Wilharber Mayor Centerville, Treasurer - Centerville Lions. Centennial Lakes Police, Thank you so much for being there when we needed you. Sincerely, John and Susan Johnson. Dear Ms. Austin, Tanner Court, Circle Pines, wants to thank you, the Police Department, the Fire Department, and public officials for assisting and visiting our Night to Unite gathering. Every one enjoyed visiting with all of you and it was especially nice for our new neighbors. Please pass on our thanks to everyone. Joan Tetzloff. Sincerely, Russ Blanck, The information was great and I appreciate you taking the time to present it to us. I will mark my calendar to repeat the training next year. For most of the employees here that was their first time hearing that information and they took the information seriously. I would definitely recommend your presentation to others. Thanks again - Dale Peterson, Branch Manager Anoka Hennepin Credit Union. Officer Matt Giese, You made a traffic stop in mid-july that subsequently led to an arrest for possession of heroin. Due to the growing epidemic of heroin use in our county, your department forwarded the case to the DTF. A Blaine Detective and myself were assigned the case and we were able to use the suspect to further our investigation of narcotics in the area. Below was the result of what all started from a moving violation traffic stop. Your arrest led to the following: 8 People arrested, 3 Search warrants executed, 2 Children placed, 1 Marijuana grow, total weight of approx. 500g MJ removed, Misc. amounts of Meth, Heroin, and synthetic marijuana. These numbers do not include work that the eight people who were arrested might do.it just keeps going and going. Thought you would like to know. Nice work! Detective Gabe Lee, Blaine PD, Anoka-Hennepin Narcotics and Violent Crimes Task Force. It s Back-to-School time Keeping our student s safe. Golden Lake Elementary Centerville Elementary ~ 3 ~ Centennial High School s Homecoming Parade. Centennial Alternative Learning Center

4 COMMUNITY CONNECTION Night to Unite was held on Tuesday, August 7 th. Our officers visited 22 neighborhood groups throughout our three cities. This event encourages law enforcement and citizens to strengthen neighborhoods by getting to know one another. Night to Unite is the perfect opportunity for neighborhoods to plan a get together, meet new neighbors and/or reacquaint with old neighbors and to enjoy outdoor activities with neighbors, friends and family. Thank you to everyone who participated this year. It was a fun night and a huge success. SAFETY CAMP This year safety camp was held on Thursday August 9 th. The Youth Safety Camp increases a child s knowledge and awareness of all aspects of safety, while providing a fun experience. This camp is conducted by the Police, Fire, and Parks & Recreation Departments. Topics covered at the camp include: bike safety, fire safety, drug safety, water safety, personal safety, electrical safety, outdoor safety, and first-aid. The camp is set in an informative, but fun and exciting atmosphere. Another exciting and fun year!! Thanks to all who participated. (Community Connection Continued on page 7) ~ 4 ~

5 A message from our c.e.r.t coordinator Michelle Lakso Big hugs to all of you! There have been so many things that you have helped with this summer, and this year already, and I can't thank you enough. I want you to know how very special and amazing you are as a member of this strong community-based team that each of your actions as you respond to help in emergency and non-emergency events impact like ripples through our community. Today we have some team members out in Circle Pines alerting residents to a crime alert- thefts from vehicles occurred overnight, and our team is working alongside the department so residents are aware of what is going on and to take precautions. Tuesday, I and other CERT members went around to the Night to Unite parties to talk to folks, promote our program, and let people know that the CERT program serves them. Last week, we had Fete-De-Lacs in Centerville, where we had team members in the parade promoting our program. We had team members at the fireworks and street dance to assist where needed. In June we helped Lexington with their 5k run, CERT members were placed throughout the route to ensure safe crossing of participants. There was a drowning in Centerville Lake and CERT assisted the incoming family members who were waiting for dive teams to find their loved one. In 100+ degree heat, we made sure the family was cared for with food, water, chairs, tables, etc. In May, a hearty crew joined me at 5a.m. in Anoka to assist in various ways with the large-scale multi-jurisdictional exercise. As community you can see, you connection have all been busy Continued and EACH AND EVERY EVENT, without CERT assisting, it would not be nearly as successful or easy for those coordinating to make things happen. If you haven't had a chance to help with any event, or we missed you for some reason, please let me know. Upcoming training will be in September. I will announce those dates to you soon, and ask for your help in spreading the word that more people involved make great additions to our team and our efforts. ~ 5 ~

6 SATISFACTION WITH THE POLICE By: Chief Coan A few years ago the National Institute of Justice released a summary of a research study regarding interactions between the police and the public. The report, entitled Satisfaction With The Police, What Matters?, finds that improving the quality of routine interactions between police personnel (both sworn and civilian) and citizens is the best way to improve overall public satisfaction with the police. Although many of the findings outlined in the study were pretty basic, there were several recommendations that serve as very good reminders for us all. First, it seems that the more we explain things to people, the better satisfied they are. This was the case even when the resulting action was that of arrest. For example, an officer who is abrupt, sarcastic, or curt simply results in more contested traffic tickets than the officer who politely responds to the questions or concern of the motorist. It is only reasonable for drivers to be told why they were stopped and how to handle the citation. The same goes for virtually every kind of call for service that we handle. Victims of crime want us to arrive in a timely manner and to keep them informed of the status of their case. Keep in mind that the public often has no clue about any particular aspect of the Criminal Justice system, whereas we know virtually everything about it. The more we explain, the more satisfied that the public is with our service. We can improve the quality of our contact with citizens by simply talking with people more. Of course, the public expects the police to behave in a professional manner, to avoid sarcasm, and to act courteously and respectfully. Historically, the highest percentage of citizen complaints against officers is for discourtesy. Obviously, there are some people who will not allow us to remain courteous. However, we control the encounter and sometimes we don t always do the best job of preventing verbal escalation. As officers, supervisors, detective, community service officers, and clerical support staff we should constantly evaluate our image, words, and demeanor. Are we projecting a poised and professional image of ourselves? Are we ensuring quality in what we do? Are we courteous, compassionate, and helpful in the service that we render to our citizens? Although some of this may seem very obvious, the NIJ report does a nice job of reminding us of the obvious. How we conduct ourselves, how we listen to people, our demeanor, and the way in which we communicate all have a direct bearing on how successful we are as individuals and as a law enforcement organization. Officer Angi Kruyer handing out Junior Police Badges to children at the Fete-De-Lacs parade in Centerville ~ 6 ~

7 (Community Connection continued from page 4) The 21st Annual "Fete des Lacs" City Celebration was a big hit this year. The theme of the parade was "Solid Gold", 60s, 70s or 80s. Congratulations to Mayor Dave! Mayor Dave Bartholomay received the 2012 Elected Official of the Year Award from the Association of Minnesota Emergency Managers. His advocacy of the Community Emergency Response Team and emergency management in our community earned him this recognition. Accepting the award is Circle Pines Mayor Dave Bartholomay (right) who was nominated by C.E.R.T coordinator Michelle Lakso (left). Centennial Lakes Police Officers successfully resuscitated Jim Otto (second from the left) from a heart attack June 7 th. The officers were recognized with life-saving awards at a July 9 th police governing board meeting. From Left to right: Officer Bill Jacobson, Jim Otto, Officer Angi Kruyer and Sergeant B.J. Stepan. ~ 7 ~

8 Parallels in Policing (continued from page 1) By: Chief Coan I was assigned to ride with Sgt. Eric Gonzales who works out of the Miami Police Department s Central District. Sgt. Gonzales is an eleven year veteran of the Department and also serves as a member of the SWAT Team. On this particular Saturday evening Sgt. Gonzales was one of 17 officers policing the various diverse neighborhoods which comprise the Central District. I was very impressed with the attitude and conscientiousness that Sgt. Gonzales displayed. A Big City Cop who was actually pretty humble about what he did. In fact, he seemed to want to know as much about the Centennial Lakes PD as I did about his Department. Although most of the officers are assigned to specific geographic sectors, Sgt. Gonzales was free to roam throughout the entire Central District. As a result, my ride-along took me through some pretty tough, impoverished, and ethnically diverse neighborhoods including Overtown and Little Havana. The District also includes Little Haiti, Coconut Grove, and portions of downtown Miami. I observed that it was a distinct advantage for those Spanish speaking officers, including Sgt. Gonzales, as they dealt with many Miami citizens. I was also struck with just how quickly and distinctly the surroundings and atmosphere can change in Miami. For example, we drove through an upscale art district and within a block or two we were in the midst of a sprawling, low-income, and crime-ridden housing project. Many of the problems that Sgt. Gonzales and his officers face are really not so different from the sort of situations that we routinely deal with here, e.g. domestic disputes, civil problems, medical calls, traffic problems, thefts, alarms, people drinking to excess, juvenile problems, fights, the mentally ill, etc. Granted, the crime, violence, and level of disorder found in Miami are on a much larger scale that what we find here. Nevertheless, good police officers are found everywhere doing the best that they can in sometimes very difficult, demanding, and challenging situations. As I have witnessed our own officers conduct themselves in a very poised and professional manner, so too I found Sgt. Gonzales and the officers of the Miami Police Department. My ride-along reminded me once again that no matter where police work is practiced and in whatever organization it is undertaken, the essence of policing can be found just about anywhere. Though this is not necessarily such a revelation, it does serve as a profound reminder that we are part of a larger brother and sister hood (one that few people have the privilege of belonging to). So whether you police one of America s largest cities, or three small suburban cities in Minnesota, there are certain parallels in policing. My ride-along experiences remind me that police officers everywhere are routinely exposed to various kinds of traumatic or stressful events and daily pressures which require a certain toughness of attitude, temperament, and training. Most police officers are highly ethical, very professional, compassionate, and extremely dedicated to their work. I remain very proud to be part of such a noble and courageous profession and I am proud of the good work done by our officers. ~ 8 ~

9 The New CLPD Squads are now in Service Both of our two newest squads are now in service. Pictured is our Ford Interceptor sedan and our Ford Interceptor SUV. The vehicles replace the traditional Crown Vic s that are no longer being manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. The new Interceptors have been designed for utility, safety, and full emergency response. Personnel Update CSO Britni Austin has accepted a Police Officer position with the city of New Hope. We wish Britni the best of luck in her new position. The following is a goodbye message from Britni. CSO Britni Austin All, it has been my pleasure to work alongside of you every day since August 10, I can t thank you enough for being there for me through the years. That is exactly what brotherhood is all about. You have helped me grow, challenged me to push myself, and showed support in my journey to become a police officer. I would not be the who I am today without you guys. I will miss you greatly. You know how to get a hold of me, so please keep in touch. Take care and stay safe out there. Britni Austin CLPD Newsletter is a quarterly publication of the Centennial Lakes Police Department Chief of Police: Chief J. Coan Editor: K. Honkomp, Data Entry Clerk C. Lewis, Office Manager Articles Contributed by: Chief J. Coan Michelle Lakso CERT coordinator Photos Courtesty of: Admin. Sgt. R. Blanck Sgt. B.J. Stepan Officer B. Jacobson Various CLPD Staff ~ 9 ~

10 Contact your area liaison officer with any questions you may have at: Circle Pines: Admin. Sergeant R. Blanck Officer J. Krueger Officer J. Tarnowski Officer J. Zech Detective K. Carlson Lexington: Sergeant B.J. Stepan Officer A. Dixon Officer B. Jacobson Officer A. Kruyer Officer S. Werneke Centerville: Sergeant P. Aldrich Officer M. Langreck Officer A. Sandmann Officer M. Giese ~ 10 ~