6.0. SR 04-08-2002 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Year in Review The year 2001 was a busy year in which many unusual things happened. We decided to highlight a couple of these events. The first one was the methamphetamine lab that was broken up at the Red Carpet Inn in January 2001. This netted the arrest of five (5) adults for varying levels of Federal crimes. This was supposedly one of the largest meth lab arrests in the north metro area. Another significant event was the officer involved shooting that occurred in August of 2001. This happened at the Park Pointe Apartments in the 1200 block of School Street. Our officers were dispatched there for a distraught male with a shotgun. Upon arrival, the suspect was located in one of the garages with a shotgun. He was ordered to put the shotgun down; he didn't comply. He then aimed the shotgun and shot at Sergeant Jeff Mordal missing him, but striking the doorframe on the sergeant's driver's side squad door. The suspect continued to aim at Sergeant Mordal while Officer Todd Besser, who also responded, was deployed in another spot. Officer Besser ordered the suspect to drop his weapon several times. The suspect didn't respond to the officer's commands and was subsequently shot by Officer Besser. The suspect survived the shooting and has recently pled guilty and is to be sentenced to eighty-six (86) months in prison in mid-March. The officers involved were later honored and given the department's highest award; the Medal of Valor. With the horrific events of September 11th, we had many calls by concerned citizens and businesses about potential anthrax. At times, this was very demanding on the department and in some cases it was hard to calm down some of the citizens involved. We were unable to test to see if any of the suspicious mail or packages containing powder were anthrax or any other dangerous substances. The State was inundated with similar requests and didn't have the personnel to deal with all the hoaxes. Hopefully, we won't experience something like this in the future. In late September of 2001, our department was called to investigate a residential burglary in the City. The suspects were apprehended later in the year as a result of good police work by our officers and officers from the Anoka County Sheriff's Department. As a result of these arrests and ongoing investigation, the two suspects are considered primary suspects in the homicide that occurred in Bums Township after our burglary in September. The above mentioned events are not generally the norm for Elk River, however as I have mentioned in the past, as we continue to grow we will see a higher incidence of serious crime happening in Elk River. This includes more of the most serious Part I Crimes that we haven't been exposed to in the past. In 2001, our Part I crimes increased by 30% from 638 to 830. However, Part II Crimes decreased by 8.8% from 1,351 in 2000 to 1,242 in 2001. Also, our calls for service (CFS) decreased 15% from 20,055 in 2000 to 17,440 in 2001. One of the biggest drops in CFS was traffic citations issued, which were approximately 1,300 less than in 2000.