Shutdown’s Impact on Inver Grove Height Heights Police Department “Minimal,” Police Say

Early last week, that a state government shutdown could adversely affect the Inver Grove Heights Police Department’s investigations, background checks and enforcement.

that the Minnesota State Patrol and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension were among the state’s “essential services” means the actual impact has been “minimal,” Interim Police Chief Larry Stanger said on Thursday.

Thanks to Gearin’s ruling, Inver Grove Heights police will continue to have the state support they need for most of their investigative duties. Those support services include DWI blood and urine testing.

The department will also continue to have access to motor vehicle registrations, driver’s license information and criminal histories. Also, all Inver Grove Heights police officers have current driver's licenses and consequently, Stanger said, no local cops will be unable to do their jobs because of licensing issues.

The Minnesota State Patrol and Capitol Security were ruled essential and will continue during the shutdown. That means that Inver Grove Heights police will not have to pick up where the state would have left off—conducting additional speed and DWI enforcement along Hwys. 52 and 55, for example, or receiving more 911 calls without state patrol dispatch.

Although the department has fielded a lot of questions from the public, Stanger said, the state shutdown has only affected the department’s record keeping. State law requires the department to report any vehicle, money or weapons forfeitures, and submit quarterly reports on the number of people housed in detention in the department. Because the state cannot currently receive those reports, Stanger said, the department is simply stockpiling its own records.

During a petition hearing for additional funding on Tuesday afternoon, the League of Minnesota Cities presented arguments to suggest shutdown-related limitations on Minnesota police departments are putting public safety, local police officers and county courts at risk.

With the government shutdown in place, vehicle license databases are not being updated, explained Minneapolis-based attorney Kurt Glaser during the hearing.

Put simply, the databases that help officers determine the category and number of vehicle-related offenses since the government shutdown are erroneous at best and incomplete at worst.

“Police officers may start to err on the side of not taking offenders into custody because drivers know they’ll get a pass,” Glaser told Special Master Kathleen Blatz.

David Lillehaug, Special Counsel for Gov. Mark Dayton, echoed the sentiments of most people in the room, “This sounds like a serious problem. It needs to be dealt with immediately."

Stanger acknowledged that in limited circumstances, an out-of-date license database might affect the severity of the charges pressed against an offender, because police won’t be able to access updated records to know if the person in question has any recent vehicle-related offenses.