About the Saint Paul Police Department
In 2004, the Saint Paul Police Department had over 700 employees. Of those, 547 were sworn law enforcement officers.
Under the direction of the Chief of Police, two Assistant Chiefs command the largest portion of the Saint Paul Police
Department resources. The Assistant Chief of Operations and Proactive Services
has the patrol personnel, narcotics, vice, volunteer services as well as the FORCE Unit.
The Assistant Chief of the Major Crimes and Support Services
Division has all of the typical detective functions like auto theft, fraud and homicide; as well as other specialized functions
like the crime lab and property division.
In 1992, the Saint Paul Police Department established the
FORCE Unit; and acronym for Focusing Our Resources on Community Empowerment. This
unit uses several strategies to fight crime such as crime prevention and targeting problem properties.
The crime prevention initiative involves two crime prevention
officers and three crime prevention coordinators work together with citizens, neighborhood groups and the district councils
to help prevent crime and organize block clubs. They also work with the following groups/services: Crime Free Multi-Housing
Program; Excessive Consumption of Police Services Ordinance; Graffiti; Minnesota Crime Alert Network; National Night Out –
2007; Operation Identification; Crime Prevention tips
A second FORCE strategy is to target problem properties and
street level narcotic activities. Using the community as a base of information, they have received more than 12,000 complaints
on problem properties since the unit's inception. On average, the unit has executed more than 120 search warrants and made
more than 1,000 arrests per year.
Source:
stpaul.gov/depts/police/
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Dr. Dennis L. Conroy recently retired after over 30 years
service with the Saint Paul Police Department (Minnesota). During his law enforcement
career he worked a variety of assignments, including: Patrol Officer, Patrol Supervisor, Vice/Narcotics Investigator, Director of Professional Development Institute, Director of Field Training Program, Communications
Center Supervisor, and Juvenile Officer, Director of Employee Assistance Program.
In addition to this law enforcement experience, he has 25
years of clinical experience includes working with children, adolescents, and adults. As a psychologist, his specific areas
of interest are stress management, trauma response, hypnosis and working with law enforcement officers. Dennis Conroy is the
author of Officers at Risk.
According to one reader of Officers at Risk, it “should be required reading for anyone training
for a career in law enforcement and also for department administrators. The last two chapters explain how individuals and
then departments can identify and manage stress related problems. For the individual, it should speak for itself. For police
departments and correctional institutions, it can deter many potential problems from poor performance to costly and embarrassing
lawsuits to suicides. I thank God that I was part of a department that in many ways pioneered employee assistance in law enforcement,
and in a state that recognizes the long-term effects that can occur.”
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