HomeMy WebLinkAbout[09e] Police Department Report
DWIGHT PFANNENSTEIN
POLICE CHIEF
75 Callaway Street East
St Joseph, MN 56374
POLICE
dpfannenstein@cityofstjoseph.com
POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT
TO: HONERABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
DATE: April 16, 2020
SUMMARY
Quiet and calm are two words most would not associate with a world-wide pandemic, but that is how I
would describe St. Joseph these days. With bars, restaurants, and coffee shops closed, the amount of traffic and
interaction with public have gone down. This time of the year we would be ramping up officer presence on
nights and weekends with the nice weather we are going to be seeing. With only 20 students left living on
campus at St. John’s University and approximately 20 left at the College of St. Benedict, our population is
lower. There is also an unknown number of students still living in rental houses. In the month of March, we
th
had spring break for the first week of the month, then the colleges shut down on Friday 13 at 5 pm. One
would assume that this new world-wide event would reflect in the reduced number of calls the St. Joseph would
take for the month and the reality is, it did. The police department saw 304 calls for assistance for March 2020
as opposed to 405 calls for March 2019. Although we saw 101 less calls this month than last year, we ended the
month with ICR 882 and last year we ended March with 709. So even with COVID 19 in our lives, bars and
restaurants shut down, colleges gone for nearly a month, we are still up 173 calls for assistance in the first
quarter of 2020 as opposed to 2019.
STAFF
Not much to report here. Almost every training has been shut down or postponed as it is hard to online
train with firearms, expandable baton, and driving school. Staff has been doing a great job of doing online
patrol courses, and staying healthy and positive.
UPCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS
Not much for upcoming meeting and events either. Area cities of Waite Park and Sauk Rapids have
cancelled their June annual summer events. Sartell and Avon also have June events and are waiting until next
month to decide on theirs. I would imagine in May, we will be closely monitoring our situations as well.
Stay Healthy and Positive!
-Dwight