MPD arrest procedures are driven by, state law, policies, and finances. An
in-depth look at just these factors was requested by the City Council's
Public Safety and Regulatory Services sub-committee. Members of the City
Attorney's Office along with myself and other MPD officers were commissioned
to present a series of White Papers regarding arrest policy, booking policy
and fees, chronic offenders, and "payable" conditions. See documents filed
under the PS & RS agenda for 4/20/05 Arrest Policy, 5/18/05 Chronic
Offenders, 6/22/05 Payables, and 7/27/05 Booking Policies and Fees.
Point of clarification: The people arrested were not burglars. Burglary is
felony crime and the behavior is defined by State law, the stated actions of
these car prowlers does not fit the criminal behavior labeled as burglary.
The fact that Mr. David Shegstad made a citizens arrest indicates the
behaviors of the car prowlers is a misdemeanor criminal violation, and that
it was not committed in the presence of a licensed police officer. Although
familiar with the details of the case, I shall not make comment on them as
others are tasked with that function.
Although there are merits to arresting misdemeanants and hauling all of them
off to jail, there are some roadblocks (some morally and justifiably so) to
doing that. In short, if the police can identify a misdemeanant, they must
issue a citation and release the defendant. A simple fix is to unilaterally
change State Law, Hennepin County Policies, MPD and City Policies, and
finances. Baring that, here are the "limitations" that have been alluded
to:
ARREST POLICIES Excerpts from PS & RS 4/20/05
The Minneapolis Police Department's arrest and detention policies are
governed by state statutes, rules of criminal procedure, and policies of the
Hennepin County bench. The policies related to arrests are found in the
Minneapolis Police Department Manual, chapters 8 and 9.
Generally MPD officers make arrests in three circumstances. The first is an
arrest based on information about a newly committed crime. An example would
be an arrest for DWI based on an officer seeing a person driving erratically
and failing field sobriety tests. The officer bases the arrest on personal
observation and the examination of evidence at the scene.
The second general type of arrest is an arrest for a PC pickup issued by an
investigator. In these circumstances, the arresting officer may have no
knowledge of the crime committed, but relies on the pickup order. The pickup
order is a statement from an investigator that probable cause exists to
arrest the named person for a particular crime. PC pickups are generally
issued only for felony level crimes, although some misdemeanors, like
domestic violence, can result in a PC pickup under certain circumstances.
Finally, officers also make arrests based on arrest warrants. Warrants are
issued by the courts and are a court order to arrest a named subject and
deliver that subject to the court. Warrants are issued against persons
charged with a crime (for failure to appear in court for example), and
against people already convicted of a crime (for violations of probation or
parole). Warrants can be issued for misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor, and
felony crimes, and can be issued by both state and federal courts.
I. MISDEMEANOR ARRESTS LIMITATIONS
A person first enters the criminal justice system through a variety of
means. The most common means are through arrest, citation, or tab charge by
a police officer. Pursuant to Minn. R. Crim. P. 6.01, police officers must
issue citations to persons subject to lawful arrest for misdemeanors unless
it reasonably appears to the officer that arrest or detention is necessary
to prevent bodily harm to the accused or another or further criminal
conduct, or that there is a substantial likelihood that the person will
fail to respond to a citation. In addition, pursuant to Minn. Stat. section
629.24, a police officer may not arrest someone for a misdemeanor offense
unless the officer personally observes the person commit, or attempt to
commit the offense. Police officers exercise discretion, within the
constraints of Rule 6.01 and Minn. Stat. ยง 629.34 in determining whether to
make an arrest or whether to issue a citation.
II. COURT APPROVED BAIL SCHEDULE
Several years ago, because of serious over-crowding in the old jail, the
practice developed that the Sheriff released all misdemeanor arrestees with
"no bail required" (NBR). There is no longer a need for this practice, which
has contributed to bad policy in the area of arrest, detention, and
release (the "revolving door" problem). A committee comprised
of representatives from the Sheriff, Court, City Attorney, Probation, and
Public Defender met for several months to gather and review data,
discuss alternatives, and recommend new procedures. Based on these
discussions the following improvements to pretrial detention policies were
implemented effective April 4, 2005:
Pursuant to Minn. R. Crim. P. 6.01, law enforcement officers may "book" a
defendant into the public safety facility on a misdemeanor charge only when
"it reasonably appears that detention is necessary to prevent bodily harm to
the accused or another or further criminal conduct, or that there is a
substantial likelihood that the accused will fail to respond to a citation."
The public safety facility requires all law enforcement officers to complete
a form at the public safety facility stating in detail the Rule 6.01 reasons
supporting the officer's decision to detain.
In addition, the Minneapolis Police Department has implemented a policy
that requires arresting officers to obtain supervisor approval before all
misdemeanor bookings.
All persons booked into the public safety facility have bail amounts imposed
according to the attached bail schedule. Unless a person posts bail or is
eligible for release by the Hennepin County pre-trial release unit, he or
she is held at the public safety facility until his or her in-custody
arraignment court appearance. The only exception to this policy is a
situation where the Sheriff determines that release is medically necessary.
In that situation, the sheriff may give the person notice of any scheduled
court appearance date and release the defendant to the Hennepin County
Medical Center for treatment or medical intervention at the discretion of
the sheriff without bail. If the person posts bail or is released by the
pretrial release unit, the public safety facility schedules the person's
arraignment and provides the person a written reminder of his or her
arraignment court date.
In the absence of a Rule 6.01 reason to book, a Minneapolis Police officer
who is unable to confirm a misdemeanor defendant's identify at the scene
will transport the defendant to the First Precinct police station's new
identification unit, supported by the First Precinct desk staff. Once the
defendant is properly identified the police officer will issue the defendant
a citation which contains a court date. In addition, the Minneapolis Police
Department plans to increase the use of IBIS portables in the field.
III. SPECIFIC ARREST POLICIES
Misdemeanor arrest policies are detailed in section 9-103 of the department
manual. Officers have wide discretion in making arrests for misdemeanors,
and supervisory approval is not needed in most cases. Generally misdemeanor
violators are issued a citation in lieu of booking into jail and released.
The policy details the exceptions that permit a jail booking, as described
below.
9-103 MISDEMEANOR ARRESTS - ADULTS (05/29/02) (09/16/04)
Adult misdemeanor violators shall be issued citations in lieu of arrest
unless the officer believes that one of the following circumstances exists:
To prevent bodily harm to the accused or another; To prevent further
criminal conduct; There is a substantial likelihood that the accused will
fail to respond to a citation; The officer has found that the accused has
an outstanding warrant.
The officer must be able to articulate to the court and in the CAPRS arrest
report the reason(s) why it was necessary to arrest a person rather than
issuing a citation.
To assist officers in identifying persons with no ID, the 1st Precinct
operates an identification center. Arresting officers may bring an arrested
party to the 1st Pct where officers will make an effort to identify them
from computer records or other means, then issue a citation or court date
and release them.
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