COURTWATCH: Nnamdi Okoronkwo, City Attorney, and Holly Ihrke, H.C. Probation Officer attended. They confirmed that H.C. is trying to get people out of the tight quarters that is the HCJ and have moved people to Electronic Monitoring and other methods to keep people safe. Some people have moved to tents in the parks, but those sites have social workers on site regularly. The courts are still charging cases, some 513 city cases in the last 30 days and more in Hennepin County. At this point, the courts are figuring out how they’re going to handle this overload (and still keep people safe). Thus, we still have no additions to the Courtwatch list, and there will be a problem holding it down to 20 or 25 names when the cases finally start being processed.
Updates:
- Johnny Hall — amended sentence 07/08/20 to serve 30 days, credit 2 days, serve as EHM — i.e. Electronic Home Monitoring. (last month: was discharged from probation 4/19, but charged with 5th degree drug poss. and DWI on 1/16/20 and pretrial moved to 6/30/20.
- Samuel Hasse new charge on 6/13/20, for susp. burglary, 7/20/20 pretrial, in custody on $20K bail. (last month: hearing sched. for 6/17/20 for trespass, disorderly conduct, 5th degree assault, 4th degree damage to property, and other complaints)
- Joshua Poplawski was released from the workhouse on 10/30/19. He had received multiple trespass citations from 11/7/19, mostly in the U of MN area and received a Trespass Violate citation on 2/4/20. On 12/22/19 a business at 9XX Washington Ave. reported a new trespass; under Rule of 6 (probation violation) he was booked in HCJ; first appearance was 7/16/20. 8/12/20 pretrial for a 3/20 trespass. 10/23/20 arraignment for 2/20 trespass. 10/1/20 arraignment on a 2/20 trespass.
Awaiting a hearing:
- Richard Breen – May, 2020: Richard Breen is out of custody and waiting for a Pretrial, which has been scheduled to 9/30/20 (Restorative Court)
- Kelli Durow (aka Tamera Hoveland) 39 city contacts since 2017, 38 in the Second Pct. Habitual trespassing on or near U of MN. “Rule 20 Return” for 8 charges. Further charge 4th degree assault. Arraignment on 7/20/20 [SEE RULE 20 BELOW]
- Daniel Heacock – 08/11/20 hearing for theft and check forgery in the 1st Precinct – has been found incompetent in the past
- Cody Horton has a review hearing 7/23/20 (MHC) triggered by a misdemeanor tamper M/V.
- Christian Klockeman is a repeat trespasser around U of M and has a Felony threat of violence charge 11/11/19. Hearing was rescheduled for 7/14/20 and now also has a 8/27/20 tracking hearing for treatment court triage.
- Kirk Robledo is a frequent trespasser near the U of MN. He was cited for trespass on 10/2/19 and theft at Target Express in Dinkytown on 10/6/19. He will be in the workhouse until 9/2/20, but has 2 hearings on 10/6/20 (resched. from 6/23/20) for theft and trespass.
Rule 20: Per www.MNCourts.gov: Rule 20 evaluations occur in criminal cases when there is a belief that a defendant may not be competent to proceed with the case or was not responsible at the time of the alleged offense because of mental illness or developmental disability.
No Updates:
- Tanner DeWitt: Convicted of Felony receiving stolen property 8/18/19; convicted of receiving stolen property on 9/26/19. Dept of Correction, release 9/8/20, probation to 2/5/21.
- Paula Heile remains on probation until 7/12/21. No further updates.
- Miles Shaw was released from DOC on 4/27/20 and will be on parole to 9/25/20.
- Leslie Wade received 3 trespass citations in the U of MN area; he has a pretrial on 6/9/20 after 2 hearings in Robbinsdale for Disorderly Conduct (5/14/20) and 4th degree damage to property (5/21/20) Hearing was on 7/10 but his MNCIS has not yet been updated.
- Michael Zaccardi has been released and will be on probation to 4/5/22.
PRECINCT CRIME ANALYSIS (from MPD maps)
Lt. Christie Nelson attended, reporting that Central Avenue is still Central Avenue. The case she’s happiest to report on is the serial rapist, who was identified thanks to the brave women who came forward with enough information to identify the suspect.
The Second Precinct has had some retirements. Starting July 19, Lt Nelson will be leading both Mid-Watch and Dog-Watch.
Asked about the Third Precinct staff, she reported that they are staffed and answering calls from temporary quarters at the Convention Center. Plans are still being discussed for both mid and long term location.
Crime in the first half of July remains chiefly property crimes, especially theft of bikes, theft from cars, and burglaries. Few reported crimes are robbery of person, but it’s happening. Trusted advice suggests if confronted by someone who wants your stuff, it’s going to be more helpful to give up the phone or backpack and focus on trying to spot an identifying characteristic. I’ve heard an officer say (at 2-PAC) that shoes are better to concentrate on than clothing because people generally have more shirts to change into than shoes.
Bike theft remains a Southeast-focus issue but it’s spread into near NE Minneapolis, through Ward 3. Assault has been rising in both Wards 1 and 3, but is still low compared with the rest of the city.
We ended the meeting with speculation of how many resources are currently available to citizens and to the MPD. We also touched on how policing may be forced to change in the future thanks to Covid-19’s impact on budgets, future economic issues, and other sources of impact — note the comment in Courtwatch above that the HCJ needed to have its population reduced to avoid increasing Covid-19 infections and is moving to electronic monitoring and other strategies. This could be a good topic for a future discussion.
—
Emilie Quast, board member
MPD Second Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)
Minneapolis MN 55418
e-quas@tc.umn.edu
2nd Precinct Advisory Council 