In the Beginning — 8

Perhaps more than any other decade, the 1960s defined the way in which the police would enforce the law. United States Supreme Court decisions set new standards for arrests, search and seizures and interrogations. Failing to read Miranda rights after the 1966 Supreme Court decision could lead courts to rule that an arrest was unconstitutional or that evidence be excluded. More than ever, police officers had to be educated in the legal consequences of failing to enforce the law properly.

The late 1960s were also a period of a great deal of social turmoil. Dissatisfaction with the progress of civil rights and the concern over the escalating war in Vietnam brought the problems many major cities were experiencing home to Saint Paul. During the evening of August 30, 1968, violence erupted in Stem Hall of the Saint Paul Auditorium when police officers attempted to intervene in a fight between patrons. An officer responding to the call for assistance was wounded by gunfire. The incident sparked a full-scale riot that rapidly spread to the streets, where large numbers of citizens hurled bottles, rocks and other debris at police lines. The severity of the violence led to a total recall of the Department’s sworn personnel. The disorder continued for the next twenty-four hours; three officers were wounded by sniper fire.

During the unrest years of the 1960s and 1970s, the use of explosives became popular among militant special interest groups intent on gaining publicity for their particular causes. Once a national trend, bombing became a reality for Saint Paul in the early 1970s, when a time bomb located in a pay locker at the Dayton’s Department Store exploded, causing personal injury and property damage. In response to the need for bomb disposal expertise, the Ordnance Disposal Unit (O.D.U.) was formed in 1971 with the assistance of a federal grant.

November 18, 1970 marked another milestone for the Saint Paul Police Department. On that date, the Bureau (as the Department was known) inaugurated a program for the use of color photography. All photographs of arrested persons and crime scenes were to be in color, which would reflect the increased potential to truly reproduce the image of an individual or scene. This was made possible through a grant received in the amount of $22,982.00.

In 1970, a federal grant funded the Saint Paul Police Department's new Community Service Officer (C.S.O.) program, which was designed to recruit and train African-American police candidates. Funding paid for eighteen months of education and on-the-job training. Recruits then took the civil service police exam and entered the Police Academy. By the end of 1970, six candidates were in the program.

Conscientious efforts to improve community relations were marred by tragedy. On May 22, 1970, a sniper ambushed and shot Officer James Sackett, as he responded to a call for assistance. Sackett's senseless death tragically illustrated the social problems that permeated American society. It is a crime that remains unsolved.

Several innovative programs were developed in 1971, including the Take-Home Squad Program initiated with a grant of $147,050.00. The program, involving 103 officers, was designed to deter crime through the visual presence of numerous police vehicles throughout the city. It was terminated in 1972, due, in part, to the inability to measure deterrence, as related to the high cost of the program.

Initiation of new programs continued in 1972. The popular 4/40 program was started whereby officers were assigned ten-hour shifts instead of eight, thus creating a four day work week. The Field Referral Unit was opened which created a much needed liaison between the Department and the city attorney.

In 1972, the Emergency Communication Center (E.C.C.) was upgraded when two additional operator stations and one dispatch console were added. The city was now divided into two sectors; each could be dispatched on different frequencies during the busy hours of the day. The emergency and non-emergency dispatcher functions were separated also.

During the 1970s, the Saint Paul Police Department implemented numerous community programs. Some were funded by federal grants. Others were supported by local funds or staffed by volunteers. The first Community Service Officers distributed Christmas gifts and bicycles to needy families. In 1973, the Saint Paul Area Council of Churches sponsored a Police Chaplain Program, which enabled ministers to ride with community relations officers. In 1974, the ride-along program was expanded to include Saint Paul residents, who rode with officers to learn about police work.

The McKnight Foundation provided a grant to start the Neighborhood Assistance Officer (N.A.O.) program in 1976. As part of this new crime prevention program, trained volunteers acted as liaisons when working with the Police Department in their own neighborhoods.

Most notable, however, was the introduction of team policing in 1973. The team approach focused on establishing daily interaction with residents, businesses, and social and educational organizations. It also decentralized some administration to include more personnel in decision making. The first team was assigned to the West Side. After a thorough study, the rest of the city was divided into sections, each with its own team. By July 1977, the program was implemented throughout the city. Team policing not only created liaisons with the community, but it also fostered collaboration among Police Department units. Often teams worked with Community Relations and Crime Prevention to sponsor programs such as the Neighborhood Watch.

While the Police Department reformed its philosophy and methods of law enforcement, the city of Saint Paul also considered change. In 1972, the city abandoned the commission form of government that had existed since 1914. For the first time in nearly seventy-five years, the Police Department was no longer under the control of a city board or commissioner. Along with its new image, the Police Department changed its name from Bureau of Police to Department of Police.

Although the 1970s were turbulent years marked by violence, they left a positive legacy. New community policing and crime prevention methods created a partnership between the Police Department and Saint Paul residents. Individual volunteers, neighborhood and community organizations, church and school groups worked together with police officers to build a safer place to live and work.

In 1974, the Department received a federal grant to fund an experiment to evaluate how females performed on the street when relegated the same duties as their male counterparts. The women were to be assigned to regular district squads in pairs and were expected to carry identical call loads as male officers. In 1975, Deborah L. Montgomery became the first female officer hired and trained on the Department through the traditional Police Academy process. She succeeded in performing the duties of her male counterparts and set the precedent for women seeking police officer careers in the Saint Paul Police Department.

When Deborah L. Montgomery was sworn in as a police officer, policing was a male-dominated profession and she was faced with many barriers. One obstacle was the perception of citizens to a woman wearing a man’s uniform and badge identifying her as a patrolman. Montgomery’s good humor and quick wit soon found a solution – Patrolman Deborah L. Montgomery donned a wig, which clearly indicated her gender. In remedying the public’s perception, however, she created a departmental controversy. Patrolmen of the Department were not allowed to wear hairpieces because they were thought to be a danger while working. Montgomery was determined and, with the assistance of Sergeant Carolen Bailey, they were instrumental in changing the Department’s policy, regarding accepted attire.