Laserfiche WebLink
2020 Annual Report • Police Department • St. Anthony Village, Minnesota <br /> <br /> <br />16 | Page <br /> <br />VI. Investigation Review <br />PREPARED BY CAPTAIN JEFF SPIESS <br />The St. Anthony Police Department Investigations Division has been hard at work again in <br />2020. The team is supervised by Captain Jeff Spiess, who has served in this role since being <br />promoted to Captain in 2016. Detective Tim Briski has served as the lead detective since 1999 <br />and has an overall 32 years of service as a police officer with the department. Detective Briski’s <br />tenure as an officer and detective brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position <br />and he has been a valuable asset. <br />As a department and investigative team, we are committed to not only increasing our <br />knowledge and learning from new perspectives, but also providing for career enrichment and <br />learning opportunities for all of our officers. One way we accomplish this goal is through our <br />rotating investigator position. Each year, patrol officers are able to bid a three month period <br />with the investigations team, where the officer serves in the role of a detective. This is not only <br />vital to a well-functioning investigative team, but it also has proven to be a very valuable tool <br />for the officer to bring back to patrol. In 2020, Officers Schlingman, Erdman, and Rushton <br />served as detectives and successfully helped to solve and detect crime, while also bringing a <br />new and fresh perspective to the team. <br />In a smaller police department in a large metro area, it is imperative that all officers act in the <br />role of an investigator. Often, the solvability of a crime hinges on the early work of the first <br />officers on scene and we are proud to say that all of our officers have embraced this role. <br />Officers routinely take witness statements, gather evidence, interview suspects, and take a case <br />well into the investigative stage before handing it off to the investigative team. Our officers have <br />the training, skills, and confidence to do so and know that a successful resolve for victims of <br />crime often depends on them. <br />Another important aspect of solving crime is the proper collection, handling, inventorying, <br />storage and transferring of evidence. While all of our officers are trained in the techniques of <br />evidence collection and handling, we have one officer who has specialized and on-going <br />training to manage and coordinate the large amount of property and evidence that our <br />department receives on a daily basis. Officer Moore has served in the role of Evidence <br />Technician since 2016 and is certified as an Evidence Specialist through the International <br />Association of Property and Evidence. This assignment requires Officer Moore to wear many