Prior Lake police chief: city needs more cops

Prior Lake American

Twin Cities suburbs have seen astounding growth over the last few years and where there's population growth, there's typically crime growth.

Prior Lake is no exception to this boom. In 2015, there were more than 25,000 residents but there's expected to be more than 32,000 residents by 2030.

For the first time in recent years, Prior Lake reported the highest crime rate in Scott County in 2016, topping nearby cities like Savage or Shakopee.

The police department would need eight more officers to reach the average rate of police officer per thousand residents of similarly-sized cities.

"I would say there is a correlation between having an adequate number of officers to work on prevention measures and work with the community on crime-related issues versus just responding to calls," Prior Lake Police Chief Mark Elliott said. "There's much more of a demand for community policing aspects and partnering with the community on prevention strategies. The staffing levels at Prior Lake are so low that we really struggle with being able to do that."

RELYING ON ASSISTANCE

Prior Lake residents might not recognize an issue with the police force because officers from other communities are called in to assist when the Prior Lake Police Department is busy, which is fairly common. The amount of assists to and assists from should be nearly equal, Elliott said.

In 2015, Prior Lake police received assistance from neighboring departments 134 times and assisted 58 times, according to a presentation Elliott gave to the Prior Lake City Council earlier this year. 

"We're asked to assist Prior Lake frequently," Shakopee Police Chief Jeff Tate said. "I think one of the good things about Scott County is that we all play real well in the sand box — but that alone is not a sustaining model."

The Prior Lake Police Department also responds to calls on Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community property, as the community does not have its own police force. These currently account for about 16 percent of calls annually, Elliott said.

But, Mystic Lake Casino Hotel will be adding rooms in 2018, making it one of the largest hotels in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area with 766 rooms, which Elliott said is likely to increase the calls for police. 

"Exactly how much, we'll wait and see," he said.

BUDGETARY PLANS

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community will provide an annual contribution of $70,000 from 2017 to 2019 to help fund a drug task force officer for Prior Lake.

The Prior Lake City Council will vote on a $12 million preliminary tax levy Monday night, which would include the funding for one more patrol officer. Elliott said he asked for two officers and a part-time community service officer to be in the budget.

An officer was added in 2016, too. 

Once the levy is approved, a higher amount cannot be brought to the table but the amount could be lowered.

FINDING PRIORITIES

In a 2017 community survey, 60 percent of Prior Lake residents surveyed said they would support a higher property tax in order to hire more police officers and 83 percent said more police patrol would make them feel safer.

Prior Lake is no different from nearby communities in types of crimes committed, Elliott said.

"Prior Lake is a beautiful community — there's nothing in a beautiful community that is going to prevent people from committing crimes," he said. "It's the same criteria for that crime rate in every city and so that number is telling me that we do have the same type of crimes as other cities and that we have them at a higher rate."

The lower staff means police are responding to priority calls first and then moving on to others when the department is able to, which can making solving the crime more difficult, Elliott said.

"Of course if they're crime-related calls that are waiting that longer time, the people responsible might be gone already or there's a loss of evidence," he said.

In Savage, the police department has plenty of detectives that are able to work on investigations, Police Chief Rodney Seurer said. The department has three detectives as well as a detective sergeant and will be adding another detective if approved by the Savage City Council.

"These cases take time," Seurer said. "If we didn't have the detectives that we have, it would be almost impossible to work all these cases."

Cases that require detectives include fraud, which has seen an increase statewide, according to the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center.

MEETING EXPECTATIONS

With more officers and a higher budget, the police could focus more on community education and providing common services that other communities provide, such as a safe zone to meet for online transactions or a neighborhood or business watch program, Elliott said.

"We don't have any of that," he said.

Society's expectations of police also affect the budget, such as police having the appropriate equipment to respond to medical calls like drug overdoses or providing body cameras and squad car cameras, Elliott said.

"We're trying to meet those expectations of the public as best we can," he said. "Those expectations, that response, they all come with a price tag. With that, we need an increase in our budget in order to meet all those expectations. I have wonderful officers that work here that want to do the best they can, they just need to be given the resources to do that."

Based on other cities who have gone through the same thing, there will be consequences if Prior Lake does not hire more police officers, Elliott said.

"Each community is different and unique and has different challenges but I can tell you that there's been other cities that have not addressed these issues and the result has been they have had substantial increases in crime and a change in the quality of life for the people who live there," he said.

For anything to change, Prior Lake residents are going to have come forward to voice that the police department is a priority, Elliott said.

"This council listens to the citizens and if they are vocal about something, the council listens to it," he said. "If it's important to citizens, then they'll need to come forward and say that."

Editor Rachel Minske contributed to this story.