National COPS Evaluation of St. Paul: 2000
Investigations and Special Units
In 1993, Chief Finney reorganized Investigations: since then, thefts, burglaries, and robberies have been handled by investigators (all of whom are sergeants) working out of the districts. Crimes against property, including fraud, forgery, arson and vehicle theft, are handled by investigators in the CAPROP Section that operates from downtown.
CAPERS, the Crimes Against Persons Section, combines homicides, sex crimes and serious assaults (with investigators working out of headquarters and doing all types of cases); and the Field Referral Unit, which is composed of two officers working on domestic abuse cases in the City Attorney's Office. Sex Crimes merged with Homicide in 1996: because of the complexity of the different types of investigations, however, each is headed by a lieutenant. Homicide has been commanded by Lt. Joe Corcoran, since 1990. The clearance rate for homicides is approximately 85%, well above the national average, which Lieutenant Corcoran attributes to several factors. First,
we throw a lot of resources at the homicide: some departments send one or two investigators. I send three….Overtime is never a consideration. I've never been criticized for using too much overtime because the results show that we have to throw as many resources [as possible] towards the crime within the first 48 hours, because after 48 hours, the curve falls off on solving that crime. The community adjusts to the crime…within the first 48 hours, they're willing to help you, to jump in. The suspect, after 48 hours, he or she justifies the crime…so they're not as easy to get and then you get them, they're not as easy to talk to.
Investigators can be pulled in from the districts, and from Narcotics, Juvenile, Canine, the Gang Task Force, and other sections if they are needed. And part of the strategy for solving a homicide involves all available investigators gathering together and "brainstorming" repeatedly about the crime during the days immediately following the event.
Lieutenant Corcoran also emphasizes SPPD's good relationship with the media, and a corresponding responsibility to the public. In contrast to the last administration, under Chief Finney, "we became very open with them. We recognized them then as a tool….We have solved quite a few crimes by using the media and we keep them informed. In fact we invite them to our homicide scenes." On a small number of occasions, such as when the Section has been investigating a series of rapes, getting to the public via the media was deemed more important than apprehending the offender:
…public safety was more of a concern to me than apprehending him [the rapist]…you reach a point where you have to inform the public so that they can take steps to protect themselves….On the second incident [of rape] we went right away to the media…someone could come and say "had you told us, we may have not been raped," and how do you justify that in your own mind?…It's a balancing act…I'm victim oriented and if I can prevent victims from being victims that's just as important as me arresting the people that are responsible.
When homicides do occur, an effort is made to help the families of victims: family members are kept up to date on what is happening all the time. "It really helps them to recover from that . . . it helps to give them closure . . . ." The Unit has a victim counselor, and the investigators also work with the families throughout the investigations. Homicide also sponsors the Victim Intervention Project (VIP), an advocacy program for survivors of homicide, suicide and accidental death victims.
During 1996 and 1997 the Sex/Child Abuse Crimes Unit, under Lieutenant Lisa McGinn, was gearing up for, and then implementing, community notification of sex offender releases, as prescribed by a Minnesota law mandating public information procedures on the whereabouts of released sexual offenders. SPPD is the lead agency in this process. According to Lieutenant McGinn, the Department's handling of community notification is consistent with its approach of sensitivity to specific neighborhoods:
because we feel that community notification really fits with our vision of community-oriented policing, the chief granted me the ability to go forward and make a plan that incorporated doing verifications and doing community notifications…. We will handle community notification differently [in accord with state guidelines but tailoring them to] every different neighborhood in the City, because we know the personality of the neighborhoods. And if we don't know it well enough, we're going to go to the district council or some of the other agencies, or neighbors in that area, and say "what works here?"
For low level offenders (with less chance of recidivism), notification is made to the patrol areas and district commanders, or the lieutenants assigned in each district to work with the Unit, other law enforcement agencies, and the victims. As the level of potential risk goes up, district councils are notified, media notices go out, schools and groups around the City are contacted, and community (both educational—crime prevention—and informational) meetings may be held for high risk offender releases.
The Field Referral Unit is an investigative unit, located in the City Attorney's Office, that screens and then prepares domestic violence misdemeanor cases in which no arrest was made. (Felonies are handled by the Homicide Unit, and prosecuted by the County Attorney). Sergeant Chris Nelson developed the program in its current form: assigned by SPPD to work in the City Attorney's Office in a position that had been in existence for several years, primarily to do intake and follow-up with domestic assault situations where suspects were not apprehended at the scene. Nelson found that numerous impediments were placed in the paths of victims—and started working to eliminate them, by contacting victims, meeting and talking with them about their concerns, and telling them about the police/prosecution system. By Nelson making himself available, and accountable, to victims, more and more responded by coming in.
Today two SPPD sergeants carry out investigations, contacting victims and witnesses, and prepare the cases for as assistant city attorney assigned to handle domestic abuse cases. They also participate on multi-agency domestic violence committees and task forces, such as St. Paul Intervention. During 1997, approximately 43% of domestic cases in the City were occurring in Eastern District. Field Referral Unit sergeants provided domestic abuse training to patrol officers in that area, including orientation for a new domestic abuse project that was started in the district by Commander Don Winger. A small portion of the work of the Unit officers also involves reviewing supporting documents sent over from other SPPD investigative units for cases that the City Attorney has charged.
Overall, maintaining the flow of communications among the districts and downtown investigators in CAPERS poses the biggest challenge to investigations, according to Lieutenant Corcoran. In spite of weekly meetings attended by district lieutenants and the investigative units, Corcoran believes a crime analyst would also be helpful for compiling city-wide data. So far, the funds for such a position have not been available.
CAPROP: Property crimes investigations are split between the districts and the special unit that operates out of headquarters in which investigators have inter-district assignments. Regular communication across districts, and between district investigators and those operating out of headquarters, is the rule rather than the exception: every Thursday, all investigators from the districts meet at headquarters to share information; all unit commanders meet monthly in Operations Division management meetings; and some investigators and investigations are shifted from the districts, to headquarters, and back again to the districts, as appropriate. For example, tracking of auto thefts started out in headquarters, but recently has moved out to the districts.
In one district, patrol officers describe how they work with investigators assigned there: "Traditionally, investigations were separate from patrol, but now…we interact all the time." "…rather than coming out at 4 pm and knowing by the time roll call is over, I'm not going to get down to headquarters…I can leave a note on someone's desk, and know it is going to be followed up on." "I can stop by the Lieutenant's desk and say, 'I'm not sure who has this report, but here is some unofficial information, here's the rumors…or I can't substantiate this information." "The other thing that happens is that citizens often become really excellent sources of information and once they get to know investigators, just as with any police officer, they are just as comfortable calling someone and saying 'I know you're not handling this case, but you did a real good job with mine, and I just thought I'd let you know this so you can pool your information….'" "The response from investigations and community officers has been so positive in the community that we're getting feedback from officers all the way up."
VICE: In 1997, the Pawn Shops Project was on-line: all pawn shop transactions are reported electronically to SPPD. Using a shared database, the Automated Pawn Shop (APS) System, the Minneapolis and St. Paul Police Departments are able to search quickly for persons or things. APS is not self-sustaining at this time; however, the VICE/APS unit is adjusting the fee schedule so that it should be self-sustaining by the end of fiscal year 1998.
In the last two years, the Vice Unit has initiated two new anti-prostitution efforts. First, in 1995, SPPD collaborated with St. Paul's housing code enforcement program in an operation to apprehend johns by setting up a bordello.36 In October 1997, in an effort to crack down on prostitution in the Frogtown area, the Department began publishing photos of alleged female prostitutes and men accused of being their customers on the Internet.
NARCOTICS/Special Investigations Unit (SIU): Narcotics and SIU are combined in SPPD because of the overlap recognized between narcotics, career criminal organizations, and violent criminal gangs. The Narcotics Unit targets mid- and high-level drug operations, as opposed to the street activity addressed by FORCE. SIU is responsible for intelligence gathering, centralized gang information, and career criminal tracking. Personnel from Narcotics and SIU are assigned to each district as liaison officers.
Narcotics/SIU supports district patrol and investigative officers in two ways: first, whenever a narcotics-related arrest is made by any district officer, the Narcotics Unit processes all "hold book" matters and manages the evidence. Hold book procedures include the initial charging process, interviewing the subject in custody, applying to a County Attorney to authorize charging, and subsequent review by a District Court Judge to facilitate issuance of a complaint specifying a warrant or setting of bail. Second, when the district handles a narcotics offense involving a serious drug trafficking operation or an organization that is beyond the capacity of the district to address, the Narcotics Unit adopts the case and conducts the investigation, using specialized resources available only to it.
One officer from the Unit is also assigned primary responsibility for processing all FORCE hold books, and managing associated evident. This agent interacts daily with the FORCE Unit to provide feedback and regarding matters such as training and conducting operations with the FORCE Unit. Where FORCE officers encounter a narcotics offense or organization requiring measures beyond their capabilities, the Narcotics Unit also adopts these cases.
SIU also assists district patrol and investigative officers with organized criminal activity, serial criminal offenses, and career criminal activity. SIU's tactical capabilities enable it to conduct intercepts, conduct surveillance, and use informants; it also can make available sophisticated technical and electronic measures to assist district officers.
YOUTH SERVICES: Youth Services is far more than a special investigative unit. During 1996, under Lieutenant Gary Briggs, a group of pro-active FORCE officers served in the Unit; later that year, those officers were transferred to the East Metro Gang Unit, and Youth Services was moved from the Proactive Services Division into the Operations Division. Nevertheless, the Unit retains a proactive orientation. While investigators (a lieutenant and ten sergeant investigators) perform follow-up investigations on juvenile offenses, assist Homicide and Narcotics with their investigations, and serve as a general resource for other investigative units, the Unit is a repository for a large amount of background information on juveniles. It also provides officers for D.A.R.E., and the School Liaison program, and is involved in the county-wide Truancy and Curfew Collaborative. Youth Services officers work with the Ramsey County Juvenile Officer association, the County Judiciary Oversight and Warrant committee, the County Youth Gang Task Force (a collaborative chaired by a sergeant from the Juvenile Unit), the POST Board (to help write sections on juveniles and gangs), restorative justice groups, Graffiti, Inc., and they give presentations on various topics related to juveniles for community and professional organizations throughout the state.
Juvenile enforcement has been decentralized with the designation of one officer in each district as a probation liaison officer, and another as truancy officer—responsibilities taken on as a collateral assignment by the patrol officers involved. One sergeant in Youth Services is assigned as a liaison with probation in an enhanced probation project that focuses on the Asian community, and juvenile investigators are participating in a local replication of Boston's Operation Night Light. The Unit's nine School Liaison officers (SLOs) are assigned full time to sixteen middle and high schools, where their mission is to provide safety and security: they patrol halls, conduct premise checks, and maintain high visibility within the school. They are present when students arrive in the morning, and at dismissal in the afternoon. Although SLOs and juvenile investigators regularly attempt to target juveniles at risk of becoming offenders, during 1997 Youth Services was attempting to develop a formal county-wide program (and apply for grants to support it) that would bring together SPPD, school officials, probation, social service agencies and youth service providers, to monitor at risk juveniles and be prepared to refer and place young persons whose parents are unable or unwilling to control the juvenile's behavior.
The Truancy Collaborative, involving the St. Paul School District and Youth Service Bureau—a program resulting from the Youth Collaborative Committee that SPPD coordinates, began in 1994 when a Public Schools Attendance Center for truants was set up as an attempt to reduce juvenile crime, particularly in the skyway. Youth Services' School Liaison Officer program head was assigned to assist in management of the Attendance Center. A curfew component was added to the Collaborative (making it the Ramsey County Truancy and Curfew Center Collaborative) as it became clear that juveniles were increasingly becoming victims of crime after curfew hours (in 1995, juvenile cases were up 10% and juvenile assaults up 10.8%). In 1996, a Curfew Center was opened, several curfew sweeps were held, and investigations (leading to prosecutions by the County Attorney) began under the new curfew law that permits prosecution of parents who neglect their duties to educate children.37 In 1997 the Juvenile Unit was recognized nationally by the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention as a particularly innovative program for effectively addressing truancy problems.
MOUNTED POLICE and CANINE Units: Created in 1995, the Mounted Police Unit patrols throughout the City, particularly in the downtown area. Its new beat program in each of the three districts is viewed by the Department as an extension of its community policing efforts. Both Mounted and Canine Units have gained immense popularity with citizens in St. Paul. SPPD's Canine Unit is a supportive unit for patrol, with at-large and district-specific assignments. It is also used to conduct building inspections. The Unit regularly wins the top spot in national canine unit competitions.
36 Acting Commander Gary C. Briggs, "Investigators Switch Tactics to Fight Street-Level Prostitution," Community Policing Exchange, Community Policing Consortium, November/December 1996, p. 6.
37 See "Ramsey County Curfew Center Evaluation Report," Prepared for the Ramsey County Truancy and Curfew Center Collaborative by the Wilder Research Center, Saint Paul, MN, April, 1997; and "Ramsey County Truancy Center Evaluation Report," Prepared by the Wilder Research Center, Saint Paul, MN, July, 1997.
