Detective of the Year

2005 — Sergeant Ann M. Bebeau

Sergeant Ann M. Bebeau is nominated in recognition of her superior commitment and outstanding investigative abilities. She is a passionate, dedicated, creative and highly effective Fraud and Forgery investigator. Her compassion for victims is unparalleled and is especially evident in your special attention to cases involving elderly victims of financial exploitation. In the spring of 2005, she was made aware of a construction fraud scheme going on in our city. She took it upon herself to set up a sting in an effort to apprehend any perpetrators. She came up with the idea, created the plan, and then executed it. From this operation, she received letters of thanks from the Minnesota Department of Commerce and the Saint Paul City Attorney’s Office. The operation led to several arrests resulting in formal charges. In August 2005, she received a letter from a Phoenix Police Officer requesting assistance for his elderly mother in a local case. She took the case when told by others that it was only a civil matter. Another case involving an elderly victim was that of a ninety three year old man who had been moved from a nursing home into the personal care of a St. Paul couple. The woman held a garage sale at his home without his knowledge or permission, supposedly in preparation to sell the house. The 48-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of Financial Exploitation of a Vulnerable Adult. The victim in this case had no family pushing for the help of law enforcement. This did not hinder her conviction to see this case to the end. She always made time to assist others in the Crimes against Property Unit. She developed a training manual for fraud cases for new sergeants to utilize when coming into the unit. A White Collar Crime packet was developed by her to be sent to victims of embezzlement to help them in their understanding of this crime. This tool has also been shared with other jurisdictions to assist their victims as well. She demonstrated professionalism in her career as an investigator by her attitude, doggedness and humility in her dealings with others who have had the pleasure of meeting her.

2006 — Mark G. Nelson

The 2006 Detective of the Year Award is presented to Mark G. Nelson in recognition of his superior commitment and outstanding abilities as a Saint Paul Police Officer assigned as a Narcotics Investigator. He had strategically and consistently built solid federal criminal cases against over 20 individuals in Saint Paul. Many of these defendants were active gang members with lengthy criminal histories involving aggravated robberies, assaults, kidnapping, drug dealing and firearm violations. He worked closely with the Minneapolis DEA and the Minneapolis Police Violent Offender Task Force who were targeting 25 to 30 kilo level drug dealers who lived in Saint Paul. To date, nearly 15 kilos of cocaine and over $200,000 in cash have been seized, as well as numerous weapons such as Uzis, handguns, long guns and high-powered assault rifles. He was instrumental in the arrest and conviction of three suspects for trafficking fentanyl, a synthetic painkiller sometimes mixed with heroin in a deadly combination. In another case, he targeted a drug trafficking ring that had been operating untouched for many years. His investigation and tenacity were the sole reasons he was able to target and dismantle the top ranking leaders of this group, which ultimately led to its demise. As a Narcotic Investigator, he was committed to targeting the higher command levels of drug dealing. He spent weeks of surveillance, conducted endless searches of computer databases, compiled reports from a variety of sources, conducted minutely detailed interviews, babysat cooperative defendants and coordinated with outside agencies in his fight against drug dealers. His efforts have made the City of Saint Paul a better and safer place to live.

2007 — Thomas Bergren

The 2007 Detective of the Year Award is presented to you in recognition of your superior commitment and outstanding abilities as a Saint Paul Police Homicide Investigator. Your strong work ethic, determination, and detail oriented skills have resulted in numerous convictions for several high profile cases. Your drive has even assisted in bringing charges forward on a 1989 cold case. You are currently spending countless hours working diligently on a case of great importance to the citizens of Saint Paul. With your tenacity, this matter will undoubtedly be brought to an appropriate conclusion. As Executive Officer for the Homicide Unit, you helped reduce the backlog of cases from over 300 to zero in less than six months by carefully reading and assigning cases to yourself and others in the unit. You are respected, not only by your peers at the Saint Paul Police Department, but by many other outside law enforcement agencies for your ability to share case information with them to assist in their own investigations. Your calm demeanor and sincere compassion with victims’ family members is truly appreciated during such traumatic and often chaotic situations. Survivors feel comfortable with you and as a result develop trust in our department. Your thoroughness with cases, exceptional judgment and ability to analyze complex situations make you a true professional. Your devotion makes you an honored member of this department and a source of pride for the City of Saint Paul.

2008 — Matt Toupal

The 2008 Detective of the Year Award is presented to you in recognition of your outstanding leadership and community involvement in your dual role as investigator for the Central District and lead supervisor for the GRID (Getting Residents Involved Daily) Program. You have given many hours selflessly to both assignments and have made yourself available for anyone to contact you, day or evening, with any questions or issues. Both community and City Council members have praised your work with directing GRID during the summer of 2008. A rash of robberies in the Rice Street area was the primary focus and many arrests were made through your support and coordination of officers working this program. You were a true mentor to these officers and offered them the tools and training they needed to solve these cases aggressively. The passion that you have for helping the community is apparent from your personal visits to housing complexes and businesses that are suffering from high crime. With each visit, you make sure the parties involved have your name and number and understand that by working together, you could arrive at a solution to the problem. Your guidance and efforts are an inspiration to both the community and to members of our department. You are a source of great pride to our department for your commitment to our officers and to the City of Saint Paul.

2009 — Sergeant Trish Englund

The 2009 Detective of the Year Award is presented to you in recognition of your outstanding work in our Homicide Unit and with reducing violent crimes in Saint Paul. Your expertise with tracking and identifying illegal guns has made you a top expert throughout the metro area. Many of the suspects of aggravated assault cases, that were not able to be charged for some reason, were charged with serious gun violations through your extraordinary efforts. As most of these charges carry a minimum of five years, many violent criminals have been removed from the streets. Your work with conceiving the idea and then writing, securing and implementing the Stop Armed Gang Activity (SAGA) grant to fight gang violence has substantially reduced the amount of violence generated by two targeted gangs overall by an amazing 41%. In addition, there were 15 homicides in 2009 which is the lowest in most recent history for the unit, and the number of cases assigned to the unit dropped by almost 400. When the Unit Commander is unavailable, you are the Executive Officer in Charge. During these times, you often read the incoming case reports before you come to work and can make connections to past cases or to past suspects before anyone else. You have a remarkable ability to recall details that can put investigators immediately in the right direction of pursuing a possible suspect. The assistance you provide not only to Homicide, but to the other units in our department, and outside agencies, is invaluable and has made you a well-respected member of law enforcement. Your talents, passion and dedication have made a direct and positive impact on crime in Saint Paul. You are a source of great pride to our department and it is with great honor that you receive the 2009 Detective of the Year Award.

2010 — Dean Koehnen

The 2010 Detective of the Year Award is presented to you for outstanding investigative skills and work with Code Enforcement. In late 2009, you and others were members of a task force that was established to work on a burglary ring. This case started out with two suspects and ended with 117 people being identified as part of it. An enormous amount of paperwork, surveillance, warrants and interviews resulted in a huge amount of stolen property and firearms being recovered from several jurisdictions. In addition to this notorious case, Officer Koehnen also helped recover the CNR trophy wildlife mounts that were stolen from the DNR building in Saint Paul and helped find a missing infant who was in a car that was stolen. The infant was left in its car seat near a dumpster in extremely cold weather. Arrests and convictions were made in both cases. In all of these cases, your work with informants was a key component to obtaining information to solve these cases. You have built an excellent rapport and level of trust with them. You never put them at risk and work hard to maintain relationships with them, so they feel comfortable talking to you about information that will help the department solve cases. Another area where you have excelled is your assistance with Code Enforcement. Some problem properties can be a dangerous environment for inspectors and even officers. In 2010, your presence at a nuisance property, owned by a person who disliked police and had been confrontational in the past, created a safe and calm atmosphere because of your presence and reassuring attitude. Your assistance in these types of situations is invaluable to Code Enforcement and to the community. All aspects of your work have had a positive impact on the City of Saint Paul.