2018 Annual Report - Williston Police Department

2018 Annual Report

David Peterson Chief of Police

Mission Statement

The Williston Police Department is committed to the citizens of Williston to provide fair and equitable law enforcement to all persons.

We pledge to treat all persons with dignity and respect, and will continually strive to meet their needs.

We will provide a professional, effective, and timely response to the needs of the community regarding law enforcement issues, and other community issues.

We will operate the Williston Police Department with fiscal prudence, and yet maintain a professional well-trained staff to provide the highest level of service and protection to the community.

Letter from the Chief of Police

First, thank you for the opportunity to serve the Williston Community as the Police Chief. It is truly my honor to serve this community. I serve alongside many outstanding men and women that make up the Williston Police Department. We take tremendous pride in our partnership with this community. It is through this partnership that the high quality of life and safety can be preserved for those that live and work in Williston, and for those that visit our excellent community.

Our men and women are highly educated, well trained, and extremely devoted to the highest standards of integrity, morals, and ethics. Each member of the Williston Police Department is devoted to work with our community to solve crime and keep our neighborhoods safe. We pride ourselves on having tremendous community support, which assists us in hiring and retaining the best police officers we possibly can.

As a department, we have initiated many different programs to provide education and promote community relations. Some of these programs include Citizens Police Academy, DARE, Neighborhood Watch, Bike Rodeos, Safe Bank Instruction, Mayor’s Task Force on Elderly Exploitation, and many others.

Thank you for visiting for allowing us to serve you. If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please contact us. We would be happy to hear from you.

Sincerely,

David A. Peterson Chief of Police

Patrol Aaron Kurtenbach

Years of Service

Sworn

Patrol

Years of Service

Criminal Investigations

Animal and Code Compliance

Municipal Court Docket

Crime Prevention

Programs

D.A.R.E

Crossing Guard

Alcohol Server Training

Alcohol and Tobacco Compliance Checks

Seatbelt Safety

Law and Justice High School Presentations

Bike Rodeo

Crime Stopper Events

Press Releases

Community Policing Presentations

Neighborhood Watch

Safety Talks

Calls for Service

Northwest Narcotics Task Force

Northwest Narcotics Task Force

Michael Mees, Coordinator

The Northwest Narcotics Task Force (NWNTF) is a multi-jurisdictional drug task force. It is a joint effort set forth by area law enforcement agencies through a memorandum of understanding. These agencies (NWNTF Board) include the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (Williston and Watford City field offices), Williams County Sheriff’s Office, McKenzie County Sheriff’s Office, and Divide County Sheriff’s Office along with the Williston Police Department and Watford City Police Department. The NWNTF has been a successful endeavor for nearly two decades.

The NWNTF currently consists of six task force officers and agents who obtain an area of responsibility for the counties of Williams, McKenzie, and Divide and hold deputations therein. When fully staffed the NWNTF is made up of task force officers and agents from the following: 1 Williams County Sheriff’s Office Deputy, 1 Williston Police Department Officer, 1 Watford City Police Department Officer, 2 McKenzie County Sheriff’s Office Investigators, 1 United States Border Patrol Agent, and 3 North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation Special Agents (1 currently assigned as the Task Force Coordinator).

The NWNTF Board also provides a full time civilian to the NWNTF as an intelligence analyst wherein the employee’s salary is split between board agencies. The NWNTF intelligence analyst is a crucial leg of the NWNTF and surrounding local, tribal, state, and federal agencies. The NWNTF analyst conducted 2010 internal and external requests for information to law enforcement and/or intelligence entities in 2018.

The NWNTF intelligence analyst is currently the only analyst in the State of North Dakota accessing TRAC resources allowing for the tracking of MoneyGram© to common trafficking states and counties such as California and Mexico. This access has been a proven asset to the NWNTF and the State of North Dakota in investigating narcotics trafficking, money laundering investigations and often times identifying the travel of currency out of country to identified cartel controlled areas of Mexico.

Over the last year, the NWNTF has experienced personnel changes from Task Force Coordinators to Task Force Officer’s. With the new Task Force Coordinator, a goal and vision was set to prioritize the safety of citizens in the local community. This entails a greater focus on local narcotics issues which are commonly related to other local crimes such as homicides, assaults, terrorizing, burglaries, thefts, and other various crimes. Respectively, the NWNTF primarily focuses on issues related directly to the communities the NWNTF serves and pursues

those cases aggressively. A second priority is to maintain the enforcement upon major drug trafficking organizations that directly affect the local communities. The effort to combat drugs in our community ultimately needs the support of federal agencies that are dedicated to enforcement of federal drug laws and ascertain the funding and ability to investigate and apprehend violators domestically and internationally. The NWNTF is currently working to ascertain a solid working relationship with federal agencies to combine cooperative efforts in aggressively attacking local and non-local narcotics violations.

The NWNTF takes a greater opportunity to assist community members who are addicted to narcotics and are actively searching for help. This assistance has included providing treatment resources, open conversations with medical professionals, and collaborative efforts with the local district courts, prosecutors, and defense attorney’s to provide state resources in lieu of jail and/or prison sentences. The NWNTF understands there are multiple issues that need to be addressed within the community including providing resources to addicts to become clean, productive citizens of the community, and aggressively apprehending narcotics distributors and traffickers.

The NWNTF is also committed to providing assistance to the Three Affiliated Tribes (TAT) Drug Enforcement unit. This collaborative effort has been proven successful and has led to many federal indictments and state arrests. Information and resource sharing between NWNTF and TATDE, along with the personal relationships between the entities, has been proven successful in operations and assistance through many cases to ensure the safety of the Mandan-HidatsaArikara community members and community members within the area of responsibility of the NWNTF. The NWNTF looks to continue, and strengthen, the relationship in the future. The NWNTF also had the opportunity to attend the “Strengthening Government to Government Partnerships and Relationships” as a panel member for “Addressing Drug Crime and Drug Activity, On, Near and Off the Reservation”. This opportunity allowed for the open discussion with community members and tribal leaders throughout North Dakota long with stake holders in tribal regions.

The NWNTF conducted one crime suppression operation in 2018 in Williston and Williams County. Operation Fall Sweep was conducted on October 20th, 2018 utilizing numerous law enforcement agencies and resources to include the Sidney (Montana) Police Department K9 unit, United States Border Patrol K9 unit, North Dakota Highway Patrol, Williston Police Department, Williams County Sheriff’s Office, ND Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and Northwest Narcotics Task Force. Subsequently, there were 69 law enforcement/public contacts, 14 K9 narcotic deployments resulting in 8 drug related charges, 3 drug related warrant arrests. Patrol units also issued 12 citations, 15 written warnings, and 56 verbal warnings. The operation targeted high volume crime areas throughout Williston and Williams County and resulted in the disruption of narcotics distribution in the area according to source intelligence. This operation was also utilized to improve any faults with participating agencies and entities and proved to be

extremely useful to identify those faults and address the fault with corrective actions. The operation was considered highly successful.

Overall, the NWNTF operated between 4-6 agents between Divide, Williams, and McKenzie Counties, along with servicing the McKenzie County portion of the Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara Reservation. The NWNTF area of operations also borders Montana and the international border with Canada. Respectively, the NWNTF covers one of the largest counties in North Dakota and a majority of the Bakken oil region. Given this atmosphere, the NWNTF experiences a higherthan-normal volume for drug trafficking organizations and transient narcotics violators. Narcotics prices are consistently higher than a majority of the State of North Dakota presenting a greater supply and demand factor and increased interest in narcotics sales from larger organizations to include Mexican Cartels, Street Gangs, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.

Statistically the NWNTF seized the following for 2018:

Methamphetamine: 2,310.86 grams (Approximately 5.1 pounds) with an approximate street value of $231,086. *Additionally approximately 4+ pounds were seized in relation to federal cases that are being investigated collaboratively with NWNTF.

Heroin: 247.75 grams (Approximately ½ pound) with an approximate street value of $99,100.

Cocaine: 430.14 grams (Approximately 1 pound) with an approximate street value of $86,028.

Marijuana: 11,164.83 grams (Approximately 25 pounds) with an approximate street value of $111,648. *Marijuana plant seizures: 23 plants.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) Oil/Wax: 5,571.1 grams (Approximately ½ pound) with an approximate street value of $445,688.

Morphine: 61 Milliliters with an approximate street value of $6,100.

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD): 16 Dosage Units with an approximate street value of $80.

Other Pills (Xanax, Methadone, etc): With an approximate street value of $7,035.

A total of $1,007,925 of illegal narcotics were seized from the NWNTF area of responsibility.

The NWNTF conducted 202 investigations that varied in nature. The NWNTF conducted 47 search warrants and assisted in 21 search warrants resulting in a total of 68 search warrants for 2018.

The NWNTF arrested 165 violators. 103 of the 165 arrests were felony level arrests, 37 were misdemeanor arrests, 1 was a traffic arrest, and 14 were arrests for outstanding warrants including state and federal warrants. The NWNTF seized 58 firearms associated with narcotics related offenses and seized $133,560.69 in US Currency related to the profit, sales, distribution, and trafficking of illegal narcotics.

The NWNTF was awarded a no-match federal Anti-Heroin Task Force grant for 2019 and 2020 with a total award amount of $889,071. This money will be utilized for trainings that are not common in the North Dakota or regional area, equipment, overtime costs, additional full time or part time intelligence analyst, supplies, and other costs associated with heroin investigations. This grant relieves those expenditures from local agencies and local communities ultimately greatly benefiting the community.

The NWNTF conducted 11 presentations throughout 2018. Those presentations ranged from educational presentations to schools, oil field companies, housing agencies, and the regional emergency preparedness symposium. The requests for presentations are on the rise which is a trend we strive for and hope will continue.

Sincerely,

Michael R. Mees Special Agent

North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations

Northwest Narcotics Task Force Coordinator

Williams County S. W. A. T. Team

Williams County S.W.A.T. Team Hugh Benzen, Commander

The Williams County Special Weapons and Tactics Team is comprised of members from the Williams County Sheriff’s Office, the Williston Police Department, and the Williston Fire Department. The team consists of a team commander, three team leaders, two assistant team leaders, fourteen operators, four designated marksmen and six tactical medics.

In 2018, the North Dakota Peace Officers Association Special Operations Committee recognized the Williams County SWAT Team as a regional team. The team now covers a four county area consisting of Williams County, Divide County, McKenzie County, and Burke County.

In 2018, Commander Steven Armstrong stepped down from the team and Hugh Benzen was appointed as the new Team Commander.

For the year, the Williams County SWAT Team served three High Risk Search Warrants, responded to three bomb threats, assisted other law enforcement on three moderate risk search warrants, and conducted one other high-risk operation. The team was called out on multiple other occasions but thankfully, those situations were resolved prior to SWAT intervention.

It is the continued mission of the Williams County SWAT Team to be a highly trained, well-equipped, skilled tactical team that is a resource to the communities it serves for the successful resolution of critical incidents.

Northwest Crisis Negotiations Team

Northwest Crisis Negotiations Team Alan

Bratt, Team Leader

The Northwest Crisis Negotiations Team (NWCNT) was originally started by one member from the Williams County Sheriff’s Office and one from the Williston Police Department in early 2016. Currently there are 7 members total from the two agencies. The members work their normal shifts for the agencies and are on call for situations that require the NWCNT.

In 2018 the NWCNT became certified through the special operations committee in the state of North Dakota. At that time the team became a regional team which responds to the counties of Burke, Divide, Williams and McKenzie when requested. The team annually attends and participates at a Crisis Negotiations Conference and Competition held in various cities throughout North Dakota and Canada. All of the team members have attended advanced negotiations trainings and will soon be certified nationally.

The team trains a minimum of five times per year locally, one of which is with the SWAT team. Trainings have been scenarios as well as working with local resources such as veteran services and counselors.

The NWCNT responds to suicidal subjects, barricaded subjects, hostage situations, mental crisis situations and also responds simultaneously with SWAT team call outs. In 2018 the team focused on training, both as a team, and attended trainings put on by other agencies. The team responded to 5 incidents in 2018.

Warm regards, Northwest Crisis Negotiations Team

Officer of the Year

Employee of the Year

Office Administrator Linda Granbois

Began employment with the Williston Police Department on April 23, 2012

Began employment with the Williston Police Department on May 16, 1969

Williston Police Department

Detective Sergeant Danielle Hendricks

Williston Police Department