Dakota County Newsletter - Fall/Winter 2024 - Ensuring Public Safety

RUNNING A JAIL, PROVIDING OTHER SERVICES

One of our main responsibilities is public safety. That’s done through law enforcement, the courts, emergency planning and more.

State law requires sheriffs to house and care for jail inmates, transport inmates and provide district court security. They also must investigate serious recreational vehicle accidents, search for drowning victims, carry out orders of the court and issue permits to carry.

Operating a jail is the largest mandate in the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office. It’s roughly half of the office’s 200 staff and $30 million budget. The jail has 263 beds and about 174 inmates daily. Roughly 60 percent of inmates report living outside Dakota County. About two-thirds of inmates have been in our jail before.

We don’t do the bare minimum in our jail. We offer industry-leading programs, rehabilitation services and specialized health care. These efforts set up inmates for a successful transition back into the community.

This fall, we will open a new 28-bed Integrative Health Unit to provide specialized medical and mental health care to inmates. This innovative new unit is not required, but we want to increase inmates’ likelihood of success while in custody and after release. That will benefit individuals, families and the community.

Residents might assume that the Sheriff’s Office and city police departments are required to patrol our roads and communities. While there isn’t a state law requiring it, we provide that service to protect and connect with the community. Thirty sheriff’s deputies patrol 355 square miles of rural Dakota County.

PROSECUTING CRIMES, OFFERING ALTERNATIVES

A key part of public safety is holding those who commit crimes accountable. That’s a responsibility the Dakota County Attorney’s Office takes seriously.

Counties are required to prosecute all felonies involving adult offenders. Certain counties, including Dakota, also must prosecute some gross misdemeanor offenses. They also need to charge misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor cases that occur in rural areas of the county.

The attorney’s office also is mandated to prosecute all cases involving juveniles who commit crimes in the county.

In 2023, the attorney’s office charged more than 1,800 adult felony cases, including about 430 drug cases. The office reviewed about 3,000 adult cases from local police departments and the Sheriff’s Office for possible charges. Some cases involving lower-level offenses were sent to cities for prosecution.

Criminal case numbers vary from year to year, but they have remained mostly flat in Dakota County over the past five years. In that time, there has been a decline in the number of juvenile criminal cases. The attorney’s office charged 615 cases last year, including 160 involving felony crimes.

County attorneys are required to offer a diversion program for first-time juvenile offenders. Instead of offering one program, we offer seven, including the only drug treatment court in the state.

We’re required to offer a diversion program for first-time adult offenders, but we offer two. One addresses low-level property offenses, the other low-level drug crimes. We also have a diversion program for repeat, low-level drug offenders.

Some adult offenders may also avoid a conviction by participating in our drug treatment court or veterans treatment court.