11-09-2009 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

f r MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, November 9, 2009 • 7:00 o'clock p.m. 3. CRIME TRENDS AND PREVENTION — HENNEPIN COUNTY ATTORNEY MIKE FREEMAN Mike Freeman addressed the Orono City Council regarding the services provided by Hennepin County as it relates to crime prevention. Individual city prosecutors are assigned to each community and they keep in contact with the local police chief to determine what types of crimes are being committed more often in a particular area. Freeman noted that mortgage fraud has hit a number of neighborhoods, even in the City of Orono. Twenty -nine complaints have been filed in this regard and 19 of them have been tried. Hennepin County is also taking steps to address the truancy problem. Approximately 98 percent of juveniles who are truant tend to go on to commit felonies. Due to early intervention steps taken with children under the age of 12, the truancy rate has gone down and, as a result, so has the crime rate. As it relates to violent crimes, those rates have decreased substantially. Property crimes have also decreased slightly. The violent crime rate is virtually nonexistent within the City and the juvenile crime rate is also very low. Property crime is also lower than it was five to six years ago. White commented the majority of gang members get recruited when they are eight or nine so that by the time they are 11 or 12, they are committing serious crimes. Murphy asked what steps are being taken to address issues relating to the conciliation courts and the • substantial number of cases being heard in that court. Freeman stated people have a right to have access to the court system and it should be paid for with tax dollars. People also have a right to access the conciliation courts and that he attempts to make the court system as efficient as possible. Denise Reilly, 3405 High Lane, stated she serves on the Judicial Council, and at the time the court system was facing millions of dollars in cuts, they went through all of their expenditures and put priority marks next to each one of them. Conciliation court did not receive a high priority while public safety was given the top priority. Murphy recommended the volunteer option not be overlooked in addressing some of these issues. McMillan stated in her view the taxpayers would like a stable court system since it is a very important aspect in today's society. Reilly stated Hennepin County raises more money in fees and fines than it costs to run the court system but that the money goes into the general fund. Bremer stated due to the fact that a small percentage of the population actually utilizes the Hennepin County Court System, she is not surprised that it does not receive a higher priority. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT White stated he received a call from a property owner on Bayview Place regarding vehicles parking the wrong way on their street and that the police officer was not very receptive to them. White stated the Page 5 of 7