Eden Prairie Police Department Blog

Yesterday the City of Eden Prairie held its Spring Employee Recognition Event where employee award recipients, new employees and employees celebrating milestone employment anniversaries were recognized. Eight EPPD employees were recognized for their years of service, including Sgt. Brent DuPont and Lt. Bill Wyffels, who have each served the City for 30 years.

In addition, three EPPD employees received “EPy” Awards for their work in the past year. Investigative Aide Pauline Sager and Officer Chad Streiff were each awarded the City Manager’s Quality Award, which is given to employees who have performed at a high level of productivity and quality that regularly exceed normal expectations. Detective Travis Serafin received the Mayor Jean L. Harris Award for Community Service.

Investigative Aide Sager received the award for her work creating two uniform financial fraud information packets, one for victims and a corresponding set of guidelines for law enforcement. The packet for victims provides specific steps on how to report a financial crime, close compromised accounts and manage credit reports. The packet for law enforcement includes specific checklists for officers taking the calls and investigators who are assigned to the cases. These guidelines were adopted by the Hennepin County Chiefs of Police Association and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, and have resulted in the streamlining of the process for both law enforcement and victims.

Officer Streiff received the City Manager’s Quality Award for his commitment to getting impaired drivers off the road. In the three years he has worked for the EPPD, Officer Streiff has arrested 207 people for DWI. Officer Streiff was not appointed to be a DWI high performer – it is a role he chose for himself and works hard at. He chooses a shift schedule that allows him to have the greatest opportunity to arrest drunk drivers. His passion, experience and keen observation skills help him detect a high number of potentially impaired drivers.

Detective Serafin received his award for the community service he provides to his home community of Waconia. There, Detective Serafin has been involved in the Waconia youth athletic community for five years. In particular, he has volunteered extensively with the girls hockey program, helping to promote and build it. In addition to coaching, he has served as an assistant coach for Waconia’s Rookie Hockey Camp for girls and boys for five years. Detective Serafin has also coached girls softball for four years and soccer for two years.

We would like to congratulate Investigative Aide Sager, Officer Streiff, Detective Serafin and the other EPPD staff who were recognized for their accomplishments.

In 2017, two 14-year-old girls were stopped for shoplifting at Eden Prairie Center. The officer investigating the case and the store’s security officer agreed that the girls should be referred to the EPPD’s juvenile diversion program where, in lieu of going to court, first-time young offenders who have committed minor crimes meet with people impacted by their crime.

At the meeting, the incident is discussed and all parties are asked for their thoughts on what happened. At the end of each conference a contract is agreed upon by all in attendance which the offender must complete prior to an agreed upon deadline. Dispositions from juvenile diversion conferences typically include both restitution and community service.

At this particular conference, the girls and their parents met with a representative from the store, along with one of the EPPD’s juvenile diversion officers. As the incident was discussed, one of the girls shared that she was struggling with depression. As a result, her diversion contract included a commitment to attend therapy sessions arranged by her parents.

The second girl divulged that although she had initially told her parents that the shoplifting incident was isolated, in reality she had committed previous thefts in other malls. Consequently, her contract included restitution to various stores and written letters of apology. Through the diversion process, the girl’s family became aware of a much larger theft problem which may not have been revealed had she gone through the court system instead.

The EPPD’s juvenile diversion program was started in 2006. At the end of February 2018, the program conducted its 500^th family conference.  During that time, the conferences covered 677 cases involving 958 offenders. The recidivism rate for offenders who have gone through the program is approximately 12%, which is below the national average of 20% for teenagers. Diversion is designed as a one-time offering and juveniles are warned that if they re-offend, they will need to appear in Hennepin County juvenile court.

If you are having an emergency and call 911, what you want on the other end of the line is someone who can keep you calm while you explain your emergency, who asks you appropriate, clarifying questions about the situation, and who reassures you that help is on the way. That is exactly what you’ll get when you call 911 in Eden Prairie.

This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, and in honor of that, we’d like to publicly thank the 13 EPPD dispatchers who help keep our residents, officers and firefighters safe. In any given year, Eden Prairie averages approximately 50,000 calls for service, ranging from loose dogs and noise complaints to house fires and homicides.

Dispatchers must be able to multitask at a high level while remaining calm. 911 callers are often distraught and may have trouble articulating exactly what they need. Our dispatchers are trained to quickly assess each situation and make sure sufficient resources arrive at the scene, including paramedics, the state patrol, helicopters, police K-9s, the medical examiner’s office and other police departments.

Because Eden Prairie has its own Dispatch Center, our dispatchers know the City inside and out — the parks, roads, people, shopping areas, schools, etc. As a result, they can provide customized service for each call they receive. In addition to 911 calls, Eden Prairie dispatchers also manage non-emergency calls after regular business hours, such as broken water mains, urgent road repairs and malfunctioning signal lights.

Here in Eden Prairie, we are fortunate to have a dedicated, professional group of dispatchers who help keep our community safe and we are happy to honor them this week.