Issues of concern to local law enforcement

Inmate, dispatch issues and cost implications concern authorities

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

Many local law enforcement officials say they're concerned that changes made to state policies on prisons and emergency services will result in higher costs for counties and poorer service for residents.

State officials have said the changes are temporary until more permanent solutions -- and a larger state budget -- can be found.

Minnesota Commissions Corrections Joan Fabian recently announced a new policy on the release of Level III sex offenders in the wake of controversy over Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr., the Crookston, Minn., man charged with the kidnapping of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin. Rodriguez, a convicted Level III sex offender, was released from prison without a recommendation for civil commitment.

Under the new rules, county attorneys will receive a list of the names of all Level III sex offenders being released from prisons without recommendations on how to handle them. County attorneys are also going to have to collect the necessary records and hire their own psychological experts without state funding, although the Attorney General's office is still offering expertise and resources.

Fabian met with a group county attorneys Monday to talk about the sex offender policy. The Department of Corrections released a statement after the meeting saying that it was "very productive" and that DOC is going to continue to work together on the issue, reported the Associated Press.

Many area county attorneys have said that the change likely won't become an issue so long as the number of sex offenders being released remains low; many area counties, for example, only have one Level III offender each.

Brown County Attorney James Olson said he has had a referral on only one such case since the change was announced. He said the difference between policies is that the new rules may cost Brown County more money -- an estimated $5,000 each -- for each offender.

"We don't have the resources because this is very labor-intensive," Olson said. "We're having enough trouble as it is."

Renville County Attorney David Torgelson said he has already hired a consultant to look at a civil commitment in that county and has also asked the attorney general's office for help with a petition. He said Renville County has only one such offender.

Assistant Commissioner of Corrections Chris Bray said state law has always required county attorneys to make the final decision on whether or not to pursue civil commitments for sex offenders. Bray said she thinks a longer-term sex offender policy will likely come from the state legislature during the coming session.

Historically, the Attorney General's office has helped counties with civil commitment proceedings and that help will still be available upon request from a county attorney's office. The Attorney General's Office is also going to keep two panels of psychological experts to review offender records and a panel of judges to review cases where the DOC has recommended an offender not be committed.

The state legislature authorized a study of 911 dispatching points during the special session in 2003 to see whether or not multiple dispatch centers could be combined into regional centers. The report is expected by the end of this month.

Many area sheriffs met with a representative of the Pawlenty administration in Marshall on Monday to discuss the idea. Many who attended Tuesday's meeting -- including Brown County Sheriff Tim Brennan -- felt that regional dispatch centers would compromise public safety and the safety of officers because it would not offer the same level of service and efficiency of a local dispatch center, according to the Independent of Marshall.

Ryan Church of the Minnesota Department of Administration, who conducted the meeting, stressed that the state hasn't taken any formal action to put the study into effect. Church said after the meeting was over that he has learned that regional 911 centers would probably be more practical for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area than for greater Minnesota.

The state legislature also passed a new law that said all prison inmates with less than 180 days to serve will be returned to the county where they were convicted.

Brown County Jail Administrator Paul Wieland said in a letter to the Brown County commissioners that he thinks there are more short-term offenders in county jails than the state originally estimated and that the appropriation is only enough to pay a little more than $13 per day. Wieland's letter also said the Minnesota Department of Corrections has requirements for holding short-term offenders,which Wieland said "are very time consuming."

He said there is concern among other jail administrators that the state may increase the threshold for local incarceration to a year or less, which may cost counties even more money and time than the current policy.

State Senate Majority Leader John Hottinger, DFL-St. Peter, said the short-term offender policy change was a result of the state's budget solution.

He said both the policy changes represent "a key part of the administration's budget approach, which is to pass the responsibility and cut funding, which is a terrible approach. Part of the governor's 'no-new-taxes' pledge translated into fee increases and property tax hikes. The budget deficit makes it hard to provide funding with a hard governor and House of Representatives."

Hottinger said the state is probably going to review the DOC's policies on sex offenders.

"It's just going to add extra burden and cost for counties and we need to look at that," said State Rep. Brad Finstad, R-New Ulm. "Essentially, it becomes an unfunded mandate and times are already tough on the county level."

State Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm, said he also opposes 911 dispatch consolidation, would've preferred that state inmates stay in state prisons and would've preferred to see the DOC sex offender policy stay the same as it was "because the state has the most expertise and county attorneys might not have that much expertise with the process."

"It's a tough and close decision to make, " he said. "Taking somebody's liberty away after they have served their sentence needs to be balanced against people's right to feel safe."