Sheriff's Office Newsletter - June 2022
Volume 8, Issue 6
June 2022 Newsletter (Volume 8, Issue 6)
To view each of the different stories in the newsletter, please click on the title below.
Battle of the Badges is Back!
The Battle of the Badges is back and will run through August 31! You can join us for the annual Battle of the Badges blood donation challenge, involving first-responder groups in Olmsted County. Show your support by donating for your favorite organization—all are welcome!
Participating teams include:
- Law Enforcement (Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office and Rochester Police Department)
- Fire Department (Byron, Rochester and Stewartville Fire Departments)
- Ambulance Service (Mayo Clinic)
The team with the highest number of points brought in wins bragging rights!
- Donate Whole Blood +1 point (can donate every 84 days)
- Platelets +1 points (can donate every 8 days)
- Double Red Cell +2 points (can donate every 168 days)
- Plasma +2 points (can donate every 28 days)
You can learn more by visiting the Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Program website.
Call 507-287-4475 to schedule your donation. View hours and locations.
Civil, Warrants, Transport & Government Center Security Update
Captain James Schueller
On April 25th, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office Warrants Division reached a milestone. The final paper warrants were properly disposed of, completing the transition to paperless/electronic warrants! Thank you to the entire Warrants Division team for all their hard work making this transition a reality. Moving forward, paperless warrants will create a more effective process, saving both money and employee time. By the way, the team will NOT miss the two giant filing cabinets that used to hold the paper warrants…
To go along with that, here are some related statistics from our Civil Warrants Division going back to 2019. Some definitions for reference of these numbers - A warrant is a document issued by a judge authorizing law enforcement to make an arrest, search premises, or carry out some other action relating to the administration of justice. Civil papers include eviction, foreclosure, subpoena, civil lawsuits, and numerous other types. An example of a civil standby is when a person with a restraining order needs to collect personal effects in the presence of law enforcement so they won’t be in violation of the court order. Fugitives (outgoing) refers to a person held in our local detention center who has criminal charges or a hold in another state; extraditions (incoming) is when we are bringing back a fugitive from out of state to answer to their criminal charges here in Olmsted County. Some things to keep in mind; the dip in numbers in 2020 was directly related to COVID, and the 2022 numbers are only through the middle of May:
|
YEAR |
WARRANTS ENTERED | CIVIL PAPERS ENTERED | CIVIL DEPUTY STANDBYS | FUGITIVES (OUTGOING) | EXTRADITIONS (INCOMING) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2022* |
1216 | 1204 | 26 | 12 | 19 |
|
2021 |
1806 | 3030 | 38 | 39 | 26 |
|
2020 |
1542 | 2452 | 25 | 36 | 30 |
|
2019 |
2532 | 3551 | 54 | 14# | 19# |
*: 2022 - Jan. 1 - May 16 | #: 2019 - June 1 - Dec. 31
Also, our Government Center Security Screening station and Transport Divisions track statistics. The Screening Station is the security checkpoint on the 2nd floor of the Government Center where anyone coming in to do business on floors 3-6 (or 2nd floor of the Annex building when court is in session there) are sent through a metal detector (and any items carried in are scanned by an x-ray machine) to assure no weapons or other contraband are coming into the secure areas of the buildings. Last but certainly not least, our Transport Division trips are just that - Sheriff’s Office staff transporting detainees across the state to and from other secure facilities, doctor appointments, and court appearances. Again our numbers did drop in years affected by COVID. However, we anticipate trending towards the pre-COVID numbers across the board once court starts scheduling more in-person court in June.
| YEAR |
PERSONS SCREENED |
X-RAY SCANS |
ITEMS SEIZED (knives, spray, prohibited items) |
TRIPS | MILES | DEPUTY HOURS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022* |
10,412 |
12,854 | 95 | 136 | 21,857 | 673 | |
| 2021 |
26,694 |
30,817 | 216 | 367 | 52,776 | 2,035 | |
| 2020 |
26,871 |
30,054 | 201 | 424 | 51,878 | 2,101 | |
| 2019 |
81,087 |
94,968 | 425 | 909 | 97,903 | 3,475 |
*: 2022 - Jan. 1 - April 30
Training Records Technician Denise Haefner to Retire
FORTY-SIX years! Seems like a lifetime for most of us. Denise started her career of service as an intern with Public Works and Social Services in the summer of 1975 into 1976. She worked the front desk for Social Services on North Broadway and for Public Health Admin at 1421 3rd Ave SE building, now the Sheriff’s Office Training and Emergency Operations building.
She started in 1976, full-time in County Court located in old City Hall. Shortly after County Court moved from City Hall into a new addition at the old Olmsted County Courthouse. Once at the Courthouse, she also did matron (female detention deputy) duty in the old jail in the basement of the Courthouse. You must ask her about her greatest memory from inside a cell block.
In 1978 she began working for the Sheriff’s Office and jointly for the City of Rochester in the Crime Prevention Office located at the Miracle Mile. Her co-workers were Russ Stierlen and Jerry Hanson of the Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) and Bill Gordon with the Rochester Police Department (RPD). In 1981 the Crime Prevention office and staff moved from Miracle Mile to the basement of old City Hall until 1987. When they moved to the City Hall her partners in the office were Stierlen from OCSO, Harry Algyer and John Franks from RPD. Later she was joined by Mike Braley from OCSO and Dan Pulford and Mike Clark from RPD. From 1987 until 1993, they were in a storefront on South Broadway in Rochester. Then in July of 1993, they moved to the current Government Center until the Spring of 2014. In 1995, training records for the Sheriff’s Office and Police Department were being kept separately so Denise was now solely keeping track of all training records for the Sheriff’s Office. In the Spring of 2014, the law enforcement training staff of the Sheriff’s Office moved from the law enforcement center to the work release facility. Shortly afterwards moving to the current location near Graham Park in the 1421 building, bringing her professional career full circle from Public Works Admin to the Sheriff’s Office Training and Emergency Management Office.
There is just not enough room in this newsletter to document all of the work she has done over the years leaving a lasting mark on our office. She found the time to expand her influence in many ways through the regionalizing of the Project Lifesaver Program and joining the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association (LEMA) as the go-to admin person managing the nationally known Honor Guard Camp. In these 46 years, Denise worked under six Sheriff’s administrations, eight Chief Deputies, and an untold number of captains, sergeants, and deputies assigned to “her” division. Denise has been the face and voice of our law enforcement Training Division welcoming over 175 new faces to the Office. Good luck and congratulations Denise, we can never thank you enough.
Detention Deputy Tom Lansing has Retired
Deputy Lansing began his retirement from the Adult Detention Center May 20, 2022. Tom Lansing started with the Olmsted County Sheriff’s office on July 17, 1995. He has served Olmsted County for almost 27 years of dedicated service. Tom started as a Detention Deputy, he continued in his career taking on additional duties as an Acting Duty Sergeant and a Field Training Officer. In 2004, Tom took a new position at the newly built Work Release building and that is where he stayed. Tom managed the Work Release facility, contributing substantially to the programming and running of that facility. He also maintained the supplies for both the ADC and Work Release buildings for years. He will always be remembered as having a commitment to his team, always willing to help his peers or the detainees with whatever they need, and for being a great listener. Congratulations on retirement, Tom!
Dates of Interest
June 1
Dover City Council Meeting
June 5
Pleasant Grove Township Meeting
Quincy Township Meeting
Rochester City Council Meeting
June 6
Elmira Township Meeting
High Forest Township Meeting
Oronoco Township Meeting
June 7
Olmsted County Board Meeting
Salem Township Meeting
June 8
Eyota City Council Meeting
Rochester Township Meeting
June 12
Cascade Township Meeting
Chatfield City Council Meeting
Orion Township Meeting
Rock Dell Township Meeting
June 13
Byron City Council Meeting
Marion Township Meeting
New Haven Township Meeting
Stewartville City Council Meeting
June 19
Eyota Township Meeting
Kalmar Township Meeting
Rochester City Council Meeting
June 20
Pine Island City Council Meeting
June 21
Farmington Township Meeting
Haverhill Township Meeting
Olmsted County Board Meeting
Oronoco City Council Meeting
June 22
Eyota City Council Meeting
Olmsted County Fire Meeting
Olmsted County Township Assoc Meeting
June 26
Chatfield City Council Meeting
Dover Township Meeting
Viola Township Meeting
June 27
Byron City Council Meeting
Stewartville City Council Meeting
Senior Administration
Sheriff
Kevin Torgerson
Chief Deputy of Law Enforcement Center
Terry Waletzki
Captains
Mike Bromberg
Jon Jacobson
Tim Parkin
James Schueller
Chris Wallace
Executive Assistant
Laura Collins
Chief Deputy of Adult Detention Center
Brian Howard
Captains
David Adams
Samantha Reps
Macey Tesmer