In the Beginning — 14

The Eastern District office moved to its new building, a former Hamm’s Brewery garage at 722 Payne Avenue, in 1996. Benefits of the move included having heated indoor parking for police vehicles and a large community room, the only district office with these two special features.

The Saint Paul Police Department continued to become more reflective of and more responsive to the community it served with the addition of five new storefront offices in 1996. The Central District now had four storefront offices, the Eastern District five, and the Western District three.

The Canine Unit added four Labrador retrievers for specific drug detection use the same year. The dogs joined the other seventeen K-9s, trained in the traditional manner.

The Communication Services & Management Unit (C.S.M.), which manages the departments communications requirements, completed the task of assigning portable radio equipment to each of the more than four hundred sworn officers. Individual officers were issued a portable radio to use until they retired, as is the case with their Glock .40 caliber handgun. Formerly when officers were deployed, they signed out a portable radio each time they worked and turned it in at the end of their shifts.

The range staff, responsible for training officers in weapons proficiency and maintenance, conducted transition training from pump action to semi-automatic shotguns in 1996. Saint Paul police officers were required to qualify with live-fire exercises eight times a year, more than any other local police department.

In 1997, the Saint Paul Police Canine Unit hosted a six-week Drug Detector Dog class with participants from the Saint Paul Police Department, the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Airport Police Department and the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department. Although the unit had provided canine training for outside agencies for many years, this was the first class designated specifically for drug detection.

During the same year, the Saint Paul Police canine training facility was dedicated and renamed the Saint Paul Police Canine Unit Timothy J. Jones Training Facility in honor of Officer Tim Jones and K-9 partner Laser, killed in the line-of-duty August 26, 1994.

State of Minnesota police officers now were required to obtain a minimum of forty-five continuing education credits every three years to maintain their State Peace Officer license. The Saint Paul Police Training Unit always provided continuing education credits to its officers, and in 1997, the Department expanded the range and availability of classes offered to officers by contracting education services through Century College.

Lieutenant Nancy E. Diperna became the first female to achieve the rank of captain in October, 1997. Her promotion to one of the highest echelons of the Department served to elevate the aspirations of all women police officers.

Technology installed in 1997 assisted the Crime Laboratory to process effectively more than 4,000 cases. The new Minnesota Automated Fingerprint Identification Network (M.A.F.I.N.) Latent Station 2000 replaced the existing fingerprint computer. It used computerization and advanced optics to compare latent fingerprints gathered at Saint Paul crime scenes with a database of 690,000 fingerprints from adults and juveniles in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. With this third generation model, the name was changed to Midwest Automated Fingerprint Identification Network (still M.A.F.I.N.) to incorporate the addition of the Dakotas.

The Systems Unit brought additional computerization to the Department in 1997 with a countywide booking, warrant and criminal history system, which allowed information to be shared among all law enforcement agencies in the county, as well as courts and corrections. A computer link was established with the Minneapolis Automated Pawn System, permitting investigators to compare items brought to a pawn shop with reported stolen property. A new telephone system was installed, which provided increased call capacity, higher reliability, and features that dispersed faster and broader communication within the Department. The systems’ new voice mail capability improved message distribution to users both inside and outside the Department.

Chief William K. Finney recognized the need to make the Officer of the Year Award a departmental award. Previously, the award was presented by the Ranking Officers Association (R.O.A.). The first recipient of the departmental honors was Sergeant Thomas F. Dunaski.

In 1998, Mayor Norm Coleman announced the reappointment of Chief William K. Finney for a second term. It was unanimously confirmed by the Saint Paul City Council.

Many federal and state grants were received by the Saint Paul Police Department in 1998. Minnesota’s Weed and Seed Initiative was one. The program was modeled after a successful federal strategy, targeted at high-crime neighborhoods. The city of Saint Paul acquired four state and federally funded Weed and Seed sites: Summit/University, Railroad Island, East Consolidated and Thomas/Dale. The Weed and Seed initiative had two goals: To “weed” out violent crime, drug use, and gang activity from targeted high crime neighborhoods; and to prevent crime from recurring by “seeding” the area with a wide range of programs and services from both public and private entities.

Safe and Sober grants designed to improve traffic safety were awarded to the Department for the third consecutive year. The grants had specific campaigns in which officers, working on an overtime basis, watched for traffic violations that affected traffic safety. Safe and Sober also provided grant funds for the purchase of a Sokkia Total Station, which is used for “mapping” serious traffic accidents and other outdoor crime scenes. The only other agency in the state with this type of equipment is the Minnesota State Patrol.

Tragedy came to the Saint Paul Police Department in 1998 when, for the fourth time in the Canine Unit’s history, a K-9 was killed in the line-of-duty. On May 26th, Officer Timothy P. Lynaugh and his canine partner, Callahan, assisted homicide detectives in pursuit of two murder suspects. Officer Lynaugh and Callahan were conducting a search when they came under gunfire from a suspect hiding in thick brush. While assisting with the arrest, the K-9 was fatally shot by one of the suspect parties.

The Emergency Communications Center (E.C.C.) received a new telephone system in 1998. The Positron telephones accorded telecommunicators a more efficient method of answering and transferring calls, and also enabled the Department to directly receive cellular 9-1-1 calls. Previously, the Minnesota State Patrol’s dispatchers received and transferred Saint Paul’s cellular 9-1-1 calls to the Police Department. This procedure provided the Department with faster response times to emergencies reported by cellular phone users.

In 1998, the Systems Unit continued development of the Records Management System (R.M.S.). The paperless system enabled officers to enter offense reports into a laptop or desktop computer and transmit the information electronically from their district office to the records unit.

The Homicide Unit and the Crime Laboratory had an exceptional year in 1998. For the second time since 1968, all homicides of the year were solved. Chief William K. Finney awarded both units Unit Citations for this noteworthy accomplishment.

In 1998, many officers reached that point in their careers where they decided to make room for the next generation of officers. Fifty officers retired from the Saint Paul Police Department, taking with them their experience and co-workers’ appreciation.

Motorcycle traffic patrol returned to Saint Paul in 1998 when Harley Davidson loaned the Department two motorcycles for a pilot program to study the usefulness of this means of traffic enforcement. The success of this program resulted in city council approval of funds to create a six-person Motors Unit in 1999. After completing an intensive two-week motorcycle training course, the supervising sergeant and five assigned officers were awarded the newly created winged-wheel patch to be worn on the right shoulder of their uniforms. The Motors Unit was assigned to the Traffic and Accident Section with a start-up date of April 10, 1999.