Sheriff's Office Newsletter - January 2023

January 2023 Newsletter (Volume 1, Issue 1)

Please click on the title below to view each of the different stories in the newsletter.

2023 Polar Plunge

The 2023 Rochester Polar Plunge is scheduled for Saturday, February 11th. The Plunge is sponsored by Minnesota Law Enforcement to benefit Special Olympics. This is the 22nd Annual Plunge that has seen more than 13,000 plungers raise over $3.4 million dollars.

Beginning at 3:00 pm on Friday, February 10th the Rochester Plunge Super Plungers will begin their quest to plunge 24 times in 24 hours. They will complete their 24th plunge to kick off the mass of plungers at Noon on Saturday.

Children of Incarcerated Parents

Captain Macy Tesmer

For several years the Adult Detention Center (ADC) has been working with other agencies related to children of incarcerated parent work. The goal of this work is to reduce the trauma a child endures when they have a parent that is incarcerated. This trauma can have an adverse effect on the child and cause lifelong challenges.

One thing the ADC did was to make the waiting area in the ADC lobby and the video visiting area at the work release (WRF) center more child friendly. For the ADC this entailed changing the furniture from fixed hard chairs to furniture that someone might see in an office lobby. It also meant new paint and a designated child’s area with toys, books, play table and chairs and fat heads on the wall. At the WRF facility, fat heads were also added to the walls and toys and books were placed in the visiting area.

The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office ADC is part of a six-county learning community sharing ideas. The goal is to work together and learn from each other to improve our practices to better serve the parents we have in custody and the children when they have contact with that parent. Through the work with the learning community, each county was able to get staff trained to teach the Parenting Inside Out program. For Olmsted County, this included programs staff and detention deputies. The Parenting Inside Out program is the only validated parenting program for people who are incarcerated and is 24 hours of class time. The class is designed to give the participants additional parenting skills and assistance in communicating and interacting with their child. During the class, participants that have younger children are provided recordable story books which records the parent reading the book before those books are sent to the child, so they can hear their parent read them the story. Additionally, Olmsted County was able to have a Public Health Nurse trained to continue the parenting class should a detainee get released before completing the program.

Last year the ADC staff met with leaders from a program called Project Avary. Project Avary is a program that supports children with incarcerated parents. The online program is six weeks of community group meetings. In addition, after the initial program, teens can apply for the teen leadership program. The ADC has offered informational session and registration information to detainees in the ADC and have shared program information about Project Avery with members of public health, the Rochester School district, Eyota Schools and Byron Schools.

Although the ADC is doing what it can related to this work, several other entities need to be involved who may have more contact with the children. Recently a group of different agencies was developed to work together and support each other in working with children of incarnated parents. The group is led by public health and currently includes the ADC, probation, child protection services, public health and the Rochester School District. Very quickly, some big strides are being made to implement additional ways to assist the impacted children in our community.

Thank you for Helping!

Sheriff’s Office staff and family members spent much of December giving back to our community. Thank you to staff and family members who joined in to help!

We were fortunate to participate in the 19th Annual Shop with a Cop with the Rochester Police Athletic/Activities League - PAL event alongside City of Rochester Police Department, Minnesota State Patrol and other area law enforcement agencies. Schools identified 65 kids to participate in this year’s Shop with a Cop, and each of them received money to purchase presents for themselves and family members. Officers and kids paired up to shop and had lunch together. Volunteers wrapped the gifts.

Many staff members were also involved with Toys for Tots helping collect, sort and make the trip to local hospitals to make donations. These are just a sampling of the events we know of; we have many staff who humbly serve throughout the year in a wide variety of roles.

We hope they inspire you to do good deeds for your neighbors; it can mean so much. Whether you volunteer to help, donate or support in your own way, thank you!

Monthly Snapshot: Children of Incarcerated Parent Data

Captain Macey Tesmer

1st quarter 2022

• 68 females that were booked reported being a parent of a child under 18
• 173 males booked reported being a parent of a child under 18
• 501 reported number of children possibly affected
• 122 of the 241 reported parents lived with their child/children

2nd quarter 2022

• 75 females that were booked reported being a parent of a child under 18
• 188 males booked reported being a parent of a child under 18
• 524 reported the number of children possibly affected
• 134 of the 263 reported parents lived with their child/children

3rd quarter 2022

• 51 females that were booked reported being a parent of a child under 18
• 170 males booked reported being a parent of a child under 18
• 444 reported number of children possibly affected
• 100 of the 221 reported parents lived with their child/children of a child under 18

Dates of Interest

January 2

Oronoco Township Meeting

Pleasant Grove Township Meeting

Rochester City Council Meeting

January 3

Elmira Township Meeting

High Forest Township Meeting

Olmsted County Board Meeting

January 4

Salem Township Meeting January 5

Dover City Council Meeting

Quincy Township Meeting

January 9

Cascade Township Meeting

Chatfield City Council Meeting

Orion Township Meeting

Rock Dell Township Meeting

January 10

Byron City Council Meeting

Marion Township Meeting

New Haven Township Meeting

Stewartville City Council Meeting

January 12

Eyota City Council Meeting

Rochester Township Meeting

January 16

Eyota Township Meeting

Kalmar Township Meeting

Oronoco City Council Meeting

Rochester City Council Meeting

January 17

Farmington Township Meeting

Olmsted County Board Meeting

Pine Island City Council Meeting

January 18

Haverhill Township Meeting

January 23

Chatfield City Council Meeting

Viola Township Meeting

January 24

Byron City Council Meeting

Stewartville City Council Meeting

January 26

Eyota City Council Meeting

Olmsted County Fire Meeting

Olmsted County Township Association Meeting

January 30

Dover Township Meeting

Senior Administration

Sheriff

Kevin Torgerson

Chief Deputy—LEC

Terry Waletzki

Captains

Mike Bromberg

Jon Jacobson

Tim Parkin

James Schueller

Chris Wallace

Executive Assistant

Laura Collins

Chief Deputy—ADC

Brian Howard

Captains

David Adams

Samantha Reps

Macey Tesmer