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City of West Concord

A Proud Heritage, A Bright Future
 

5th Series on Community Survey Results

COMMUNITY SURVEY RESULTS  

This is the fifth article on the results of the West Concord Community Survey completed in November 2006.  If you missed the first four articles they can be found on the West Concord web site at www.westconcordmn.com, under EDA/Community Survey.

This article will address the written comments about the Police Department of West Concord.

Comments were written stating that the Police Chief was never around during the day.  The City Council has specified that the normal shift for the Police Department will be from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. (The shifts do vary somewhat for the protection of West Concord.) Historically this has been when West Concord has needed the Police protection.  The Police Chief is on call for other periods of time through the 911 system or through a call to City Hall (527-2668). During the summer months the City Council has authorized some day shifts to have a Police presence.

The Police Chief has been available at other times such as the recent OPEN HOUSE at City Hall.  He frequently is in City Hall during the day.  He is salaried, but we do not expect the Police Chief to work over 50 hours per week, and his normal week should be 40 hours. There were several weeks that he worked up to 60 hours a week when he first arrived.

Comments were made about the need for a second Police car.  A Police Chief in Minnesota can have his own car.  This is the situation in West Concord.  The City Council has leased the car for one dollar ($1.00) a year to cover the liability of the car being used.  The car is to be used when the regular Police Squad (the pickup) is being serviced or is in need of repair.  At that  time the city will pay expenses for the operation of the car.  The car is covered by the City's insurance program at no additional cost to the City.  It is just listed as part of the possible City vehicles to be covered in cases of liability.

In a recent conversation it was brought up that the City paid to have a large shed built on the Police Chief's property.  This is not the case.

The Council has been quite surprised with the amount of activity of the Police Department. Some of the Council members have spent an evening or night riding with the Police Chief. We have several domestic disputes cases, including terroristic threats in the recent past.  The Police Department has confiscated two automobiles for alleged drug traffic through town.  One case has been adjudicated and the car was sold for the benefit of the Police Department and the County Attorney's Office, while the second case is still pending. The Police Chief and his Officer's have to write up each situation and document what happened.  This is taking a great deal of time and is taking the Chief and his Officer's off the street. To use an old military term it is necessary to "CYA". We hope that things will settle down soon.

There will be an effort to write a sixth article in a couple weeks.  We hope you are getting the information from the results of the survey that you wanted to see.

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