Eden Prairie Police Department Blog

Officer Fred Bock

Today Eden Prairie City Center is filled with first-graders! The Eden Prairie Noon Rotary Club is hosting its annual My Book Day event in our building and throughout the day all 700 Eden Prairie first-graders will visit City Center to receive their own brand new hardcover book and a library card.

In addition students get to hear a story read by a special guest reader. Nine of those guest readers are EPPD staff. Chief Rob Reynolds, Lt. Greg Weber, Sgt. Brent DuPont, Officer Fred Bock, Officer Elizabeth Stroner, Officer Patti VanSickle, Officer Bob Barli, Officer Jim Schlossmacher and Reserve Officer Joe Koch all spent time this morning reading to small groups of students.

Officer Elizabeth Stroner

The Eden Prairie Noon Rotary Club sponsors this special event each year to promote the benefits of reading.

Officer Erica Coy at the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial last year wearing her duty belt.

Every patrol officer in Eden Prairie carries a number of extra items on their body while they are on duty – some items are required and some are optional.  This list includes a duty weapon, ammunition, 1-3 pairs of handcuffs, a TASER, 1-2 flashlights, heavy-duty boots, pepper spray, cell phone, pager, radio and a collapsible baton.

In addition, patrol officers are required to wear a bullet-proof vest when on duty. All of this adds up to a lot of extra weight to carry around!

To find out just how much everything weighs, we used a scale and determined that the average patrol officer carries around an extra 20 pounds of equipment each day.

Warmer weather means more people are outside working and playing in their yards. Here are a few items from the City Code that pertain to springtime activities.

Garage Sales

Eden Prairie City Code allows for up to four garage sales in a 12-month period for no more than four days each. One temporary sign of not more than 6 square feet is allowed at the site of the garage sale, and two temporary directional signs of not more than 6 square feet are allowed off site. Signs may not be placed in the street right-of-way. For more information, see City Code Chapter 11.03, subd 3.L and 11.70, subd 3.Y

Recreational Fires

The Eden Prairie Fire Prevention Bureau sets guidelines for recreational fires within city limits. A current copy of these guidelines (less than one year old) serves as a permit and must be kept on site. For more information, see Recreational Fire Guidelines.    

Landscaping

In residential zoning districts, all exposed ground area surrounding the principal building and accessory buildings which are not devoted to driveways, sidewalks, or patios, shall be landscaped with grass, shrubs, trees or other ornamental landscape material. For more information, see City Code Chapter 11.03, subd 3.G.4.m.

Lawn Maintenance

It is prohibited to allow vegetation to grow to a height greater than 10” inches, or allow such vegetation to go to seed. For more information, see City Code 9.71, subd 2.

Yard Waste

All yard waste must be disposed of within one week unless it is being composted in an approved composting area/container. Yard waste is solid waste generated from landscaping and lawn care activities, such as mowing, trimming, gardening or raking. Yard waste materials consist of grass clippings, twigs, tree and brush clippings, straw, pine needles, tree branches, soft vegetative garden waste and leaves. For more information, see City Code Chapter 9.01.

Lawn Watering

A person may water, sprinkle, irrigate or otherwise use water from the City’s municipal water system for lawn areas, grass or turf only on alternating days. Alternating days means that residents with an address ending in an odd number may irrigate only on odd numbered days of the month and residents with an address ending in an even number may irrigate only on even-numbered days of the month. Watering, sprinkling and irrigation is prohibited every day of the week between the hours of 12:01pm through 5:00pm. For more information, see City Code 3.30, subd 12.

Domestic Power Equipment

In Rural and Residential districts, no person shall operate a power lawn mower, power hedge clipper, chain saw, mulcher, garden tiller, edger, drill or similar domestic power maintenance equipment except between the hours of 7:00am and 10:00pm, Monday through Sunday. Snow removal equipment is exempt. For more information, see City Code 9.41, subd 3.A.

Construction Noise

No person shall engage in or permit construction activities involving the use of any kind of electric, diesel or gas-powered machine or other power equipment except between the hours of 7:00am and 7:00pm, Monday through Saturday. No construction activities may occur on Sundays or legal holidays. The City Manager, upon good cause being shown, may vary these days and hours in writing. For more information, see City Code 9.41, subd 3.B.

If you have any questions, please contact the EPPD Zoning Administrator Jim Schedin at 952-949-6222.

Submitted by Jim Schedin, Zoning Administrator

As most Minnesotans know, texting while driving has been illegal here since 2008. But did you know that it is also illegal to read, compose or send texts and emails, and access the internet while your vehicle is in motion or a part of traffic? This is true even when you’re stopped at a stoplight or stuck in traffic.

This law was designed to decrease the amount of distracted driving taking place on our roadways. Distracted driving is a contributing factor in one-quarter of all Minnesota vehicle crashes each year and has resulted in 208 deaths and nearly 26,000 injuries in the past three years. From August 2008, when the law was passed, through the end of 2011, nearly 1,700 Minnesotans were cited for breaking the “no texting” law.

This Thursday through Saturday law enforcement agencies throughout Minnesota will be concentrating enforcement efforts on distracted driving behavior including texting. Here are some tips for drivers from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to help reduce distracted driving:

• Cell phones — turn off cell phones, or place them out of reach to avoid the urge to dial/answer or read or send a text. If a passenger is present, ask them to handle calls/texts.
• Music and other controls — pre-program favorite radio stations and arrange music in an easy-to-access spot. Adjust mirrors and AC/heat before traveling, or ask a passenger to assist.
• Navigation — designate a passenger to serve as a co-pilot to help with directions. If driving alone, map out destinations in advance, and pull over to study a map or program the GPS.
• Eating and drinking — try to avoid food/beverage (especially messy foods) and have drinks secured.
• Children — teach children the importance of good behavior in a vehicle; do not underestimate how distracting it can be to tend to children while driving.
• Passengers should speak up to stop drivers from distracted driving behavior.
• If making/receiving a call to/from someone driving, ask them to call back when they are not driving.

This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, a week set aside to honor and recognize the dispatchers who are on the other end of the line when you dial 911. Here in Eden Prairie we have one supervisor plus 10 full-time and 2 part-time highly trained professional dispatchers who answer over 50,000 calls for service each year. They triage calls, dispatch needed resources including other agencies, provide First Aid directions to callers over the phone and try to gather as much information as possible from each caller about their emergency. They do all of this while maintaining a calm presence and keeping the safety of the public and officers at the forefront of their minds.

To better understand the work of a dispatcher, click here for a letter written by Loveland, Colorado Police Chief Thomas Wagoner in 1994 to the dispatchers in his department.

We are proud of the work our dispatchers do for our officers and our community. We would not be the  department we are today without their dedication and commitment.

Cory Sinon

The Eden Prairie Police Department is pleased to announce that we have two new employees starting in early April. 

On April 1, 2012 Kady Knuth will join our department as a Dispatcher.  Kady comes to us from Sun County Airlines and will work full-time in our dispatch center.

On April 2, 2012 Cory Sinon will join us as a police officer and will wear badge #117.  He grew up in Brooklyn Center and is a graduate of North Hennepin Community College and Hennepin Technical College.

We are excited to welcome both Kady and Cory!

Kady Knuth

In the course of their duties, EPPD officers come in contact with people in all kinds of situations. One of the most challenging types of calls can be responding to a person who is dealing with a mental health crisis. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in 17 Americans has a serious mental illness and one in five families is affected by mental illness.

In order to prepare officers to respond as effectively as possible to those calls, the newly formed Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) prepared a training session for EPPD staff complete with a panel that included people with mental illness.

CIT invited Guild Incorporated, a local non-profit that specializes in providing integrated treatment and services for people with mental illness, to speak to officers, detectives, dispatchers, supervisors and others at the department’s monthly training.  The Guild panel included a man living with bi-polar and depression who is currently a client at Guild; a woman whose son has struggled with mental illness in the past and who is now a client at Guild; a man who is a graduate of Guild services who suffered from a variety of mental illnesses and is now a mental health advocate; and the Director of Development for Guild.

The four panelists described their personal situations and then offered their thoughts on the best ways for officers to interact with the mentally ill when they come across them in their daily work. The panelists emphasized that the most important role an officer can play is often putting a mentally ill person in touch with the right resources in order to be properly diagnosed. 

If you or someone in your family has a mental illness and you would like the EPPD to have that information in order to assist our officers if they respond to a call involving that person, please call 952-949-6277 to schedule an in-person or phone appointment. There is no deadline as the department will gather this information and any updates year-round. Armed with this information, the officers can provide customized care, including greater safety for both the individual and the officers.