The meeting was called to order at 6:15 by Emilie Quast. We were 16 attenders.
Inspector Loining requested a change in the agenda and spoke first.
PRECINCT REPORT: The Second Precinct experienced four part 1 crimes in just a few days. The murder of a mother and daughter at the 320 – 2nd Ave SE in Marcy-Holmes happened on Saturday; by Monday, the Inspector could not yet release any information. Since then, a suspect who was a neighbor has been arrested and charged.
There was a report of “shots fired” in near 3300 Pierce Street NE on Feb. 10 One person was shot in the legs.
Two assaults were committed in Marcy Holmes: The first, near the 8th St. market happened on Feb.8 at 6:15 AM. The target succeeded in getting away from the assailant. See MN Daily story https://www.mndaily.com/article/2019/02/n-umn-student-sexually-assaulted-near-campus The second was on Feb 9 at a social event.
[LATE NOTE 2-19: Marcy-Holmes: Shots fired on Saturday, 2-16 near Amy Klobuchar’s house –brief story in the MN Daily https://www.mndaily.com/article/2019/02/brklobucharshooting]
Despite that bad news, the greatest problems in the Second Precinct remains property crimes. Now that the cold weather has set in, people are keeping their windows secure, but there are still too many reports of auto thefts, theft from cars, unsecured garages, and single family dwellings, in NE and SE but especially in Audubon and Waite Park. The majority of the houses in NE that have been burgled have been forced entry, so people are locking up which does cut down on the number of burglaries. Top days for this are Saturdays, Mondays and Tuesdays, most from 3-9PM. Police need continuing neighborhood cooperation to stop these crimes: if you see something, say something.
Officers made 2 arrests in SE including one that was a result of a stop of suspicious vehicle (narcotics discovered in the vehicle).
Nick Juarez reported on Secure Net Program for homes https://securenettech.com/ (caution, this is NOT securenetsystems) and discussed increasing camera surveillance in the Central Avenue and other 2nd Precinct business districts.
SPEAKER: Our speaker this month was Mark Anderson, Director of the Barbara Schneider Foundation. The BSF is one of the agencies that is working to increase the likelihood of productive encounters between persons in crisis and first responders. The goal is to improve the safety of all who are involved in a situation, and to increase community networking. The way to achieve this is through education of the responders so they can begin to understand what is happening in the target’s mind to better redirect counter-productive behavior.
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training is a collaboration between first responders, mental health and community advocates. The program involves police training that leads to improvements in mental health response. MPD was the first police department in Minnesota to adopt CIT in a partnership with the Barbara Schneider Foundation, back in 2000. Since then, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office also adopted CIT training for their corrections officers. Some HC road officers have also taken the training.
The program uses trained actors to present situations. Trainers then lead teams through de-escalation steps, as needed. Fundamental to the training is the knowledge that a person in severe crisis may not be able to process officers’ requests. If they can’t process a request, they are not able to comply with it. It is now understood that many “standard procedures” commonly taught to first responders do not solve a confrontation, but actually escalate it.
There’s a great deal of information about the CIT program on the Barbara Schneider Foundation home page, at http://thebarbaraschneiderfoundation.org/
One additional note: In response to an e-mail comment by me a few days later, Mr. Anderson said that the Foundation does day-long training sessions for community members who want to learn de-escalation. They take it at a slightly slower pace, presenting over an entire day. The program for community groups is the same curriculum as CIT for first responders.
Mr. Anderson left us with a wallet size foldover that people might find useful. It includes 19 key concepts for responders, 11 suggestions for improving responder safety (called “Officer” safety but many suggestions will improve the situation for any responder), a long list of contact numbers for backup and help. If you are interested in having a copy, contact Emilie Quast at e-quas@tc.umn.edu and I’ll see you get a copy, either paper or as an email attachment.
COURTWATCH: Neither attorney could make it to the February meeting with updates for the people on our Courtwatch list. As it happens many are either waiting for their court date or are meeting the terms of their probation. Court dates start to pick up in mid-February so we will have news in March.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:15PM.
2nd Precinct Advisory Council 