We opened at 6:34 pm with 7 attenders. Today is Indigenous People’s Day, and many public employees are off duty. Special thanks to Inspector Torborg and to our speaker, April Smith, for being here.
In January 2020, 2-PAC first learned about a new MPD-Hennepin County joint program, called the Co-Responder Teams. A licensed social worker went out on call with an MPD officer (who also had special mental-health response training) to respond to “person in crisis” events, reported by the first contact squad team. The program was very successful by several measures: People who were in crisis received trained, onsite help from qualified professionals, more quickly than any other response could provide. Social workers could transport and expedite intake for a client at an appropriate hospital or other service. Clients and their families also received follow up help from the social worker. A bonus benefit: the initial responding officers were quickly back in their squads and able to return to the calls they were trained to handle.Several months later, Covid sequestering changed the response plan. The Co-Responders were called back to a central location and dispatched from there. About the same time, MPD began losing officers for various reasons, and didn’t find replacements.
It’s 2023, and The MPD once again has certified, qualified help for people in crisis; the social workers are now “embedded” in the Precinct. Welcome the Second Precinct’s new social worker, April Smith!
April Smith: The Co-Responders spent much of their time traveling to clients. In contrast, an embedded mental health social worker mostly stays in their office and works with referrals from officers and others. When an officer comes in contact with a person who has a mental health concern, a substance use concern, or a basic need issue (such as lack of shelter), the officer gives Ms. Smith a referral and she contacts the client, hopefully within 24 hours or fewer.
Ms Smith first asks “What’s going on?” If the person wants to work with her, they proceed from there. No one is forced to accept the social worker’s services. For example, she is now working with a client who is only focused on short term problem solving. This person has social problems that are troubling to her. Ms. Smith is able to help her deal with that because it is very troubling to this client. If there are domestic issues or issues involving juveniles, Ms Smith can put the client in touch with people who specialize in those issues.
Background to the new program: In 2018, Hennepin County partnered with police departments in the county. We now have at least 32 embedded social workers across Hennepin County. MPD was slow to get started. The Third Precinct has had a social worker for over a year, but Ms. Smith only started at the Second 3 months ago. There is now a worker in the 1st Precinct, and workers have just been hired for the 4th and 5th precincts. “Our bases are loaded, now.”
A goal of the program is to reduce the number of 911 calls officers have to respond to. Officers don’t have the training or resources to respond to many of the calls. Already, most of the calls Ms Smith receives are referrals to frequent 911 users.These calls drain the MPD resources, and prevent officers from quickly responding to the calls they should be going to.
Responding to 911 calls from frequent users or answering non-criminal complaints about neighbors are not issues an officer can do much to resolve. Those calls can be handled by social workers.
There are a few “red tape” guidelines. Because she is partnered with Hennepin County Social Services, she can see if a caller is already working with a social service agency. If someone is receiving help from one county agency, Ms. Smith is not allowed to duplicate that service. For example, if someone is receiving help with a chemical dependency, she is not able to help with that, but she may make a phone call to that client’s case manager, letting them know that the client has been having trouble with the issue and is calling 911 for help.
There is also a time span issue. Ms. Smith is a short-term case manager. She can work with a person for up to three weeks unless they move into a “Work Group” so the county can be billed to support longer term involvement. This happens often when the issue is finding housing. Once they are in a Work Group, she can work with them for up to six months. It depends on what the client is working with her to resolve.
Recently, the Embedded Social Workers Program has begun a pilot project with Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. Social workers can now receive referrals from the HCAO when there is an uptick in a focus crime, such as auto theft by juveniles. Juveniles who have been identified as being part of a theft ring, or riding as a passenger in a stolen car, or who have been identified tampering with vehicles, get referred to the team. These juveniles are often too young to be charged, so they have not been entered into the system. This program, for them, is similar to a diversion process. Embedded Social Workers are the first point of contact to reach out to these families to see if they need extra support or resources for their youth.
Recently, Ms. Smith and supervisors in the program met with investigators from special units which work on open investigations, like homicides, the guns unit, or violent crime investigations. We’ll also be getting referrals from the Fire Dept. 911 dispatch is already part of the program and has its own social workers who complete follow up for people who call that service frequently.
The goal in partnering with the investigators and emergency responders is to efficiently provide needed support to victims and the families of victims, and to free officers to focus on their primary duties.
Post presentation discussion. 2-PAC members will look for a media reporter that will keep the story going after a suspect has been apprehended. There are so many social services, which are tested and proven, which we know can be very effective, which our taxes are paying for. They never get mentioned in crime reports in the media. Residents and other taxpayers should have access, on a regular basis, to “the rest of the story.” Contact your favorite crime reporter and urge them to start telling the whole story.
STATE OF THE PRECINCT
Crime statistics from the MPD Dashboard.
2nd Precinct Crime Statistics, 9/11-10/8
Crime metric 2023 2024 3-year average
Assault 75 89 76
Incl. Ag. Domestic 4 9 7
Burglary, B&E 20 31 43
Damage to property 52 72 68
Homicide, non-neg. 0 0 0
Homicide, negligent 0 0 0
Larceny, theft 191 235 239
M.V. theft 58 70 69
Robbery 6 30 13
Incl. car-jacking 2 1 3
Sex offenses 4 9 10
Stolen property off. 22 3
Weapons law viol. 5 9 8
Shots fired calls 15 29 30
Gunshot wound vics 0 1 1
This is the best crime incident report we’ve had since I’ve been seeing them. Car-jacking is the only metric that rose over the last 28 days, and that only rose by one incident.
QQ: Last month I offered the opinion that the reduction in weapons law violations might be linked to new protocols for traffic stops, for broken tail lights, and similar offenses.
Inspector Torburg: There are arguments on both sides of that question. Some people believed they were profiled, while other people looked at the number of guns the officers took off the streets, and thought that was good.
QQ: What about expired license plates?
Inspector: It’s frustrating. I pay a fortune to renew my license tabs. When you look around the streets, you see a LOT of expired tabs; some of them have been expired for years. It’s frustrating when you play by the rules and see other people ignoring those rules.
QQ: I agree it’s irritating to see people ignore the rules about tabs, but what about moving violations? I’m a bicyclist and see so many people going way over the speed limit. The speed limit on the parkway is 20. I’m going 20 on my bike and people pass me like I’m standing still. East Hennepin, a block from my house, is sometimes like a raceway. Are you permitted to stop people for moving violations?
Inspector: We are permitted to make those stops. I think what you’re seeing is the effect of a LACK of police officers out there patrolling. I recently went to an event in North Minneapolis, and, red light or green light, you have to watch at every intersection. People totally disregard the signals.
Not too long ago, the MPD Traffic Unit had 30 officers. All they did was traffic moving violations. Normally if there was an issue, like speeding, they would focus on that area and could calm things down pretty quickly. We used to also have leeway at the precinct level. If someone called the precinct about an issue in a local area, like people running a stop sign at a certain intersection, a sergeant would assign a squad to that area. Unfortunately we no longer have enough officers to take a squad away from answering 911 calls so they can monitor stop sign compliance.
QQ One of my neighbors and I have talked about watching an intersection we share and just taking photos of the car tags going through without stopping. Would that be enough to issue a citation or at least a warning?
Inspector Torburg: That complaint came up. It was decided that since the MPD couldn’t prove who was driving the car, they couldn’t write a citation. The last legislature session had a bill which would issue a citation to the OWNER of the car, no matter who was driving it. It didn’t pass before the end of the legislative season. We hope they’ll work on it again when they meet again. [EQ: Contact your state Rep. and Senator about this ]
COMMENT: Talking to Reps Jordan and Noor. Technology has improved so much since the first case was thrown out. Now you can get a picture of the car tag, and also a very clear picture of the driver. Places like Phoenix have done this.
Inspector: I think there’s about 30 cities that use that system. You’re right the technology has improved so much; also, most cities have a human to match the photo of the registered driver with the photo of the person driving, which cuts down on false charges. This is another way technology can help us overcome the staffing shortage.
QQ: Would you remind me who is behind the edict to not stop vehicles with equipment violations or expired tabs?
EQ looked it up:
Timeline for changes in defective vehicles stops.
January ’20, Officers stop vehicles to hand out repair vouches, not citations. Story: https://tinyurl.com/328dz87j
August ’21, Officers no longer stop for expired tabs, items hanging from the RV mirror, or no working license plate light. also the City Attorney will not prosecute for “for driving after suspension when the suspension was for failure to pay fines or fees and there was no accident or other egregious driving behavior that would impact public safety.” Story: https://tinyurl.com/2u88dxes
The ’20 and ’21 changes occurred under Chief Arradondo’s leadership. In 2023, Chief O’Hara was interviewed by KARE-11 about continuing enforcement changes that started back then. See https://tinyurl.com/32zkfr6r
It is October. Next month we start preparing for the 39th December 24th 10-hour buffet for First Responders who are on duty on that Family Day. We need help with pickups, planning, looking for new food donors (commercial kitchens, ONLY), setting out table decorations, hanging stuff on the walls, and more. All those needs are on GO at the beginning of December. It’s hard work, and fun, and satisfying, and frazzling, and everything a good tradition brings with it.
YouTube video from the recording of this presentation: https://youtu.be/v8pKJGmZVUs
or https://youtu.be/ounKn8qBzmQ
Emilie Quast, Member
MPD Second Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)
2nd Precinct Advisory Council 