This is Police Week

President Obama declared May 13-19, 2012 Police Week and Tuesday, May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day in the United States.

The EPPD honored the week by participating in the Law Enforcement Memorial on the State Capitol grounds.

Five EPPD officers stood guard at the Memorial vigil on Tuesday. The officers stood for twenty minutes, then after the guard duty change, the officers left their posts, rang the memorial bell and stated the name of a Minnesota officer who was killed in the line of duty. This ritual continued every twenty minutes during the 24-hour vigil.

In addition to sworn EPPD officers participating in the Memorial vigil, members of the Edina/Eden Prairie Explorer Unit also stood guard during the day.  

In 1962, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15th as National Peace Officers Memorial Day.

In honor of those who died as heroes in the line of duty, flags at all City facilities were lowered to half staff on Tuesday and EPPD officers wore mourning bands over their badges, from sunrise until sunset that day.

 

 

Celebrating Seniors

 

Officer Jess Irmiter and K9 Brix answer questions at the EP Senior Center

May is Senior Awareness Month and since 1993 Eden Prairie has celebrated our seniors by hosting events throughout the community during the month of May. This year several of the events involve the EPPD. Last week at the Senior Center Officer Jess Irmiter and his K9 partner Brix conducted a demonstration and answered questions about the department’s K9 program.

Today City of Eden Prairie staff, including Police Chief Rob Reynolds and City Manager Rick Getschow, had the honor of judging a bar baking contest at ReaLife Co-op.

On Wednesday May 23 the department’s Crime Tech Unit will be visiting the Senior Center at 1 p.m. to share what it’s like to process crime scenes and collect evidence. The event is free and open to the public but does require advance registration.

Bar contest winners and judges

Senior Awareness Month is also a good time to make sure you or a loved one has a File of Life. The purpose of the File of Life is to make your medical history available to emergency personnel so that accurate medical treatment can be provided. The File is useful in situations if you become unconscious or unable to share information about your medications or allergies. The File comes with two cards: one for your purse/wallet and one (magnetized) for your refrigerator. It’s easy to use. Simply fill out the card with a pencil and update it regularly. File of Life packets can be picked up at the Eden Prairie Senior Center and the Eden Prairie Police and Fire Departments. For more information about the File of Life contact Officer Elizabeth Stroner at 952-949-6200.

Encouraging Young Readers

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.

Honoring Our Reserves

Loren Moriearty

Each spring the EPPD honors the work performed by our volunteer Reserve Officers at an appreciation banquet. This year’s banquet was held last Thursday and included recognition of several long-time members of the Reserve Unit.

Steven Mueller

Steven Mueller is retiring from the Reserves after serving for 15 years and Craig Emerson is retiring after 13 years of service. Loren Moriearty received a years of service award for the twenty years he has volunteered as a Reserve. Considering that the average Reserve volunteers approximately 15-20 hours per month that is a total of 3,600-4,800 hours in Officer Moriearty’s career!  

Craig Emerson

The Reserves volunteer their time assisting the Department’s licensed, sworn officers by performing community service tasks and non-criminal police functions. They do this in addition to working their regular jobs and raising their families. They are truly dedicated to maintaining the well-being of Eden Prairie and we are proud to work beside them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extra Pounds

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.

A Busy Weekend for our Volunteers

This past weekend three volunteer organizations affiliated with the EPPD were out in the community making a positive impact. On Saturday the Edina/Eden Prairie Police Explorers attended the State Explorer Conference in Rochester where they competed in situational exercises along with Explorers from 46 other agencies. The Edina/Eden Prairie Explorer Post took home a 1st place trophy in Burglary Response and 2nd place honors in Traffic Crash Investigation. Explorer David Norr took 1st place in the Top Fire exercise at the firing range. Congratulations to the entire Post!

Reserves Tom Bahe and Phil Gjervold

Also on Saturday, the Police Reserves did their Adopt-a-Highway duty by picking up trash along State Highway 5. Fifteen Reserves and sworn officers collected 15 bags of trash.

On Sunday the Eden Prairie Crime Prevention Fund held a pasta lunch fundraiser at Biaggi’s restaurant in Eden Prairie Center. The event raised almost $1,000 for the Crime Fund which helps fund educational programs, community gatherings, reward funds, Senior Safety programs, Night to Unite, Citizens Academy, Police Explorers and the EPPD Speakers  Bureau. A special thank you to Gary Chanen and Biaggi’s for allowing the Crime Fund to use Biaggi’s as the fundraiser locale.

What am I allowed to do in the spring?

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

Fight Crime While Eating Pasta

This Sunday April 22 the Eden Prairie Crime Prevention Fund is hosting a fundraiser at Biaggi’s restaurant in Eden Prairie Center at noon. Tickets are available at the door and cost $15.00 per person or $40 per family which covers your choice of spaghetti, chicken marsala or bowtie pasta along with salad and cake. All proceeds are tax deductible and benefit the Eden Prairie Crime Prevention Fund.

The Crime Prevention Fund was founded in 1978 when a group of concerned residents and members of the business community came together to assist the Eden Prairie Police Department with crime prevention through funding for educational programs, community gatherings, reward funds and more. Some of the programs the Crime Fund helps sponsor are Senior Safety Workshops, Eden Prairie Night to Unite, Citizens Academy, Police Explorers and the Speakers Bureau.

To learn more about the Crime Fund or to make a contribution contact the Police Department at 952-949-6200.

Text + Drive = Ticket

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.

Run Safely

Are you a runner or walker who has been hibernating all winter? With the warmer temperatures and more hours of sunlight, now is the time to exercise outside again! In order to do so safely, here are a few tips from Olympic runner and Minnesotan Carrie Tollefson who interviewed Metropolitan Transit Police Officer Andrew Schroeder for a recent episode of her show “C Tolle Run”.

  1. Run with a partner.
  2. Wear personal identification.
  3. Follow the rules of the road.
  4. Run in well-lit areas.
  5. Wear reflective clothing in the early morning and evening hours.
  6. Increase your alertness by leaving your headphones at home.
  7. If confronted by a stranger, run toward busy areas.

If you’d like to see the full episode with more tips, check out this video…

Thank You Dispatchers!

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.

Welcome Back Lt. Morrow!

For ten weeks earlier this year, EPPD Lt. Jim Morrow was a student at the FBI’s National Academy, a professional institution for U.S. and international law enforcement leaders which serves to improve the administration of justice in police departments.

Lt. Morrow was one of 250 students from 28 countries who attended this session of the Academy. Only half of 1% of law enforcement officers attends the Academy at some point in their career. Participation is by invitation only, through a nomination process. Lt. Morrow is the fifth employee from the EPPD to attend the FBI National Academy.

While there, Lt. Morrow attended classes Monday through Friday from 8:00 – 5:30. Weekends were spent doing homework which consisted of reading, researching and writing papers. The classes fell into four categories: legal issues, behavioral science, investigations and fitness. Each Wednesday the students faced a physical fitness challenge involving interval training and distance running. If they passed each of the weekly challenges, students were eligible to run the final challenge: the Yellow Brick Road. This challenge was a 7-mile obstacle course run designed by the Marines which involved running through creeks, scaling rocks and crawling under barbed wire. Finishers, including Lt. Morrow, received a large yellow brick for their accomplishment.

While Lt. Morrow learned a lot from the Academy instructors and his fellow students, he also found that the other law enforcement personnel were interested in learning about some of our programs here in the EPPD. In particular they wanted to learn more about the department’s Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART), the multi-jurisdictional SWAT training we do and the Southwest Hennepin Drug Task Force we belong to along with other metro communities. The other participants were impressed with the amount of collaboration Eden Prairie does with our neighbors.

We are happy to have Lt. Morrow back with us to share all that he learned.

April Showers Bring…New Employees!

 

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

Drug & Weapons Bust

For the past 16 years, the EPPD has provided one detective to serve on the Southwest Hennepin Drug Task Force (SWHDTF) along with members of the Edina, Minnetonka, Hopkins and St. Louis Park Police Departments and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. Officers on the Task Force work undercover and focus on apprehending drug traffickers.  

On March 21, the SWHDTF executed a search warrant at a residence in St. Louis Park. Investigators recovered 18 pounds of marijuana, two handguns and a ballistic vest from the residence. The resident, Frederick Anderson, has a prior conviction for third degree riot which means that he is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Mr. Anderson has been charged with two felonies: fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance and commission of a crime while wearing or possessing a ballistic vest. He was also charged with a gross misdemeanor: prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

Working as a team with other agencies allows us to focus on specific crimes such as drug trafficking and other drug offenses that occur in our city and neighboring cities making our whole community safer.

Training for a Mental Health Crisis

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.