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18 X. Crime Prevention Summary <br />2014 Annual Report · Police Department · St. Anthony Village, Minnesota <br />X. Crime Prevention SummaryX. Crime Prevention Summary <br />Prepared by Sergeant Jon Mangseth <br />The prevention of crime is one of the primary goals of the St. Anthony Police Department and the <br />Crime Prevention Unit. It is when crimes are prevented from occurring that our communities are best <br />served. The term “crime prevention” applies to proactive efforts aimed at the elimination of criminal <br />incidents, rather than responding to them after they have occurred. Crime Prevention is the anticipation, <br />recognition and appraisal of a crime risk and the initiation of some action to remove or reduce the act. In <br />other words, taking active measures to harden yourself and your property from being victimized. <br />Crime prevention is achieved by developing, training and equipping a strong and engaged police force, <br />which has been a primary focus at the St. Anthony Police Department. We also focus on building <br />active partnerships with our residents, businesses and schools, in order to effectively meet the needs <br />of the communities we serve. Our crime prevention efforts focus on educational initiatives, seminars <br />and positive police contacts, within our communities, in an effort to reduce the causes of crime and <br />the conditions in which they occur. As a department, we will continue to actively focus on arresting <br />offenders, solving problems and increasing the overall quality of life in our communities. <br />This report will refl ect some of the many efforts we have engaged in, throughout 2014, to prevent crime <br />and build partnerships with the communities we serve. Please be aware that this is not an all-inclusive <br />list of activities that were conducted. <br />In January of 2014, I wrote a proposal to Chief John Ohl outlining a <br />plan to reorganize the Crime Prevention unit. As a result, we added <br />four patrol offi cers to the unit, while losing one due to promotional <br />advancement. Offi cers Mike Huddle, Jim South, Kiel Rushton and <br />Jeronimo Yanez were selected for the unit. They join Offi cers Tressa <br />Sunde, Dale Moore and I as members of the unit. The four previously <br />mentioned Offi cers attended a 40 hour class and were certifi ed as crime <br />prevention specialists by the Minnesota Crime Prevention Association, <br />in conjunction with the American Crime Prevention Institute. These <br />Offi cers were selected based on their initiative, creativeness and varied <br />backgrounds in law enforcement. <br />Goals for 2015 include: research and development in the areas of <br />social media, workplace security, senior safety, bicycle safety and <br />teenage driving safety. We will look at reformatting the original “Citizen <br />Academy” model by creating individualized classes, instead of an <br />eight week program. We also look to continue offering seminars and <br />programs that focus on personal safety, property protection and crime <br />prevention. We will continue to meet the needs of our communities by <br />tailoring seminars on topics identifi ed by members of our communities. <br />We will extend our partnership with community services, in an effort to <br />better market the programs we offer. <br />Sergeant Mangseth