Hennepin County Sheriff's Office

The Professional Standards Division consists of the Administrative Unit, the Employee Development Unit, the Personnel Unit, the Internal Affairs Unit, the Central Records Unit and the Community Engagement Team (CET).

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Personnel Unit is responsible for staffing the Sheriff's Office. The Personnel Unit includes the Background Section that conducts intensive background investigations scrutinizing the criminal, prior work performance and credit histories of each applicant to ensure they meet the high standards of employment maintained by the Sheriff's Office. The Personnel Unit provides numerous additional services to its employees and the public including posting promotional opportunities, performing policy reviews, processing payroll and benefits, managing workers' compensation claims and Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requests, processing applications for concealed weapons permits and offering fingerprinting services.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Employee Development Unit ensures that members of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office provides training that will enhance and support the skills, knowledge and competence of the members of the Sheriff's Office and the criminal justice community at large. The Employee Development Unit also researches and plans strategies that keep the Sheriff's Office in the forefront of advancing law enforcement practices.

in 2019, Sheriff Hutchinson launched the Tri Wellness unit, which is focused on the wellness of sworn and civilian staff of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. The name refers to the three pillars of wellness: mind, body, and spirit. The unit includes a staff therapist, four chaplains, a peer-to-peer support group, and other wellness options. The creation of the wellness unit was a priority for Sheriff Hutchinson in the first year of his term, as he believes that deputies and staff who feel supported and healthy will provide better service to the public.

The Investigative Division includes the Hennepin County Violent Offender Task Force, Narcotics Task Forces, Detective Unit, and Criminal Information Sharing $ Analysis (CISA).

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Narcotics Unit is one of the most successful drug enforcement units in the state. The Narcotics Unit works in partnership with several task forces including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force, the Southwest Hennepin Drug Task Force (Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka), the West Metro Drug Task Force (Medina, Mound, Orono, West Hennepin Public Safety), the Minneapolis/Hennepin Drug Task Force, the Northwest Metro Drug Task Force (Crystal, Golden Valley, Hopkins, New Hope, Plymouth, Robbinsdale, St. Louis Park) and the Metro Gang Strike Force. The Narcotics Unit, based in downtown Minneapolis, targets mid-to high level drug dealers and organizations.

The Metro Gang Strike Force was created in 2005 by the Minnesota Legislature during a "reorganization" of Minnesota's "approach to addressing gang and drug-related crimes".[7]^:2

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Detective Unit works its own cases and in cooperation with several other law enforcement agencies. Detectives from the Sheriff's Office are assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Secret Service Financial Crimes Task Force, the Gang Prosecution Team of the Hennepin County Attorney's Office and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

VOTF was created in February 2007 to help address the problem of violent crime/offenders in Hennepin County.

Accreditation The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Crime Lab Unit is one of three accredited crime labs in the State of Minnesota. The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) accredited the Crime Laboratory Unit in 2004 for the forensic services it provides in the criminal justice system. ASCLD/LAB also certified the unit in four of the major forensic science disciplines of analysis: Latent Prints, Firearm and Tool Marks, DNA/Biology and Crime Scene processing. The unit's Crime Scene Section was the first team of crime scene investigators in Minnesota to earn ASCLD/LAB certification.

The Crime Laboratory Unit includes Administration and Support, Evidence Management, and Multi-medical Evidence.

Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs) collect evidence at crime scenes, disaster scenes, and other public safety incidents county-wide. CSIs are licensed sheriff's deputies dedicated exclusively to processing crime scenes 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) operates the largest jail in Minnesota and the only jail in the state that is accredited by the American Correctional Association. The Sheriff's Office has achieved this distinction because it maintains the highest standards of inmate custody and care.

Many units and divisions within the Sheriff's Office have responsibilities and work assignments at the jail. The Sheriff's Office Adult Detention Division leads the overall management of the facility. The Sheriff's Office, as well as city, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, book arrestees into the jail. In 2013 there were 35,910 inmates booked into the facility.

The Hennepin County Jail is located in Minneapolis and occupies space in both the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility (PSF) and in Minneapolis City Hall. Within the PSF there is a booking unit and 330 inmate housing beds. Across the street in City Hall, there are an additional 509 inmate housing beds on the upper floors of the building.

The Court Services Division provides law enforcement services to the Fourth Judicial District Court. The division helps to ensure that the judicial system operates safely, in an orderly manner, and without disruption. In 2013, the Court Services Division escorted 33,552 defendants to court and escorted 1,667 patients to mental health court.

The Court Security Unit provides security to all of Hennepin County's Fourth Judicial District. The Unit is also responsible for the security and safekeeping of all in-custody defendants making court appearances.

The Hennepin County Medical Center Sheriff's Enforcement Unit provides 24/7 law enforcement services for the Hennepin County Medical Center and surrounding area.

The Sheriff's Office Communications Division operates the largest consolidated public safety answering point in the Upper Midwest, dispatching for 21 fire departments and 24 police agencies in 37 communities. The 911 center operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

When you call 911 from many cities in Hennepin County, you will speak with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Emergency 911 Dispatch Unit. This is often the first point of contact for the caller to request assistance from the public safety community.

This division is composed of the Homeland Security Unit, the Emergency Services Unit "SWAT" team and the multi-jurisdictional WMD Tactical team.

The Homeland Security Unit coordinates a number of initiatives involving multiple local agencies and partnerships with Emergency Medical Services "EMS" and the local and State Departments of Health. The Homeland Security Unit also manages a threat and vulnerability assessment team that develops emergency response plans for various sites in Hennepin County. Homeland Security Unit personnel also work as active members of many public and private homeland security working groups, and conduct training sessions for the community, Sheriff's Office personnel and local governmental agencies.

The Emergency Services Unit, or ESU, is a highly trained tactical response team drawn from all divisions and units of the Sheriff's Office. It consists of eight crisis negotiators and 34 licensed personnel with sophisticated tactical training complete the unit. Together, they are prepared to react to incidents requiring special weaponry and quick, highly choreographed maneuvers.

Hennepin County Sheriff's car

The Patrol Division oversees the Patrol Unit, Warrant Unit, and Water Patrol Unit. Two of the special deputy units are under the Patrol Division (Emergency Squad, or E-Squad, and the Mounted Patrol). The Emergency Squad consists of special deputies (volunteers). The Emergency Squad responds to emergency calls (accidents, medicals) and supports special events with highly trained personnel. Contained within the Emergency Squad is the Underwater Recovery Team (URT), a group of specialists in underwater rescue and recovery. Many of the special deputies were heavily involved in the recovery efforts at the 35W bridge collapse.

The Mounted Patrol is a group of volunteers that have a love of horses and a need to serve the community. These special deputies offer horse patrols for numerous events, like the Hennepin County Fair.

The Patrol Unit provides emergency response, patrol services, service of civil papers, and warrant service to communities throughout the county.

In addition, the Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement service provider to the following:

• Fort Snelling
• Greenfield
• Hanover
• Medicine Lake
• Rockford
• County Home School
• Hennepin County Workhouse
• The 133rd Airlift Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard
• The 934th Airlift Wing of the U.S. Air Force
• U.S. Navy/Marine Corps Reserves

The Patrol Unit also provides supplemental patrol coverage to a number of smaller police agencies in northwestern Hennepin County as well as specialized patrol service and assistance to all Hennepin County law enforcement agencies.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Water Patrol Unit is responsible for all water-related incidents within the county. The unit fulfills the statutory duties of the Sheriff's Office on waterways and actively patrols the 104 lakes and three rivers in the county. The unit also has jurisdiction and responsibility for other bodies of water including: hottubs, public and private pools, ponds, streams, etc. The unit also provides specialty services such as ice rescue, swift water rescue, under-water recovery and airborne rescue. The unit has many specialized pieces of equipment including watercraft, snowmobiles, side scan and stationary sonar, ATV and cold water immersion suits.[8]

The Sheriff's Office is responsible for the administration and execution of service of arrest warrants, commitments and other court orders issued for persons who are wanted in Hennepin County and/or other jurisdictions. Responsibility for the execution of warrants also involves extraditing wanted individuals back to Hennepin County who are captured in other counties or states.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Transport Unit transports people under the Sheriff's jurisdiction. This includes prisoners in pre-trial detention, post-conviction on the way to a correctional facility and those under the jurisdiction of the Mental Health Division of the District Court.

The Information Technology Division is responsible for all information technology including software, hardware infrastructure and data systems for the Sheriff's Office. It supports over 300 software systems and technology equipment the Sheriff's Office uses to function. The Sheriff's Office IT Division is separated into two functional groups, Operations and Support Unit and Development Unit.

The IT Division provides project management services, technology leadership and consulting to the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office as well as other criminal justice agencies in Hennepin County and Minnesota.

In October 2016, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office provided support from its special operations division in response to North Dakota officials' mutual aid requests,[9] for the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, causing an outcry from Hennepin County citizens and leaders.[10][11] HCSO deputies were deployed to Morton County, North Dakota, along with deputies from neighboring Anoka and Washington Counties, from October 23–31, 2016 as part of an Emergency Management Assistance Compact agreement between the state governments of Minnesota and North Dakota.[12]

Hundreds of citizens protested daily at Hennepin County Government Center and Minneapolis City Hall [13] Among political leaders opposed to Sheriff Rich Stanek's decision were Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith,[14] U.S. Representative Keith Ellison,[15] state Representative Peggy Flanagan,[16] state Representative Karen Clark, state Senator Patricia Torres Ray, Minneapolis City Council members Alondra Cano and Cameron Gordon,[17] Civil rights organizer Clyde Bellecourt [18] and Hennepin County commissioners Marion Greene, Linda Higgins,[19] and Peter McLaughlin who, in a Facebook post said, "Indian Nations have a special interest in this issue and that interest must be protected! There's plenty for the Sheriff to do here in Hennepin County," said McLaughlin. "It is not a priority use of the Sheriff's office resources, which the Sheriff controls by virtue of his election.[20]

An online petition by Honor the Earth called on the Sheriff's department to desist in its participation.

We are residents of Hennepin County, MN and we are alarmed at the deployment of Hennepin County Sheriff's Department forces to North Dakota to take part in the hyper-militarized and violent repression of peaceful demonstrations in opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline. In our judgment, the demonstrations by water protectors on and near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation have been overwhelmingly peaceful, prayerful, dignified, and reverent. They have been exercises of the inherent human rights and constitutionally protected rights to freedom of speech and assembly. (...) Hennepin County has absolutely no place and no right to support such activity with our tax dollars. We hereby call on all Hennepin County Commissioners and Sheriff Richard Stanek to immediately withdraw all Hennepin County forces from North Dakota.

— Honor the Earth[21]

In response, Sheriff Stanek issued a statement explaining that his office responded to the request from North Dakota to maintain "the public's safety, preserve the peace, and protect the constitutional rights of protesters" and that the deployment was a routine mutual aid agreement between law enforcement agencies.[22][23] Minnesota deputies were released from their duties in Morton County on October 31 after the state fulfilled its part of the EMAC agreement.[24] Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton stated in an interview that the deployment was a routine mutual aid response, and that "It sounds like they conducted themselves very professionally."[25] Financially, North Dakota eventually reimbursed Hennepin County for the salaries of the officers sent there, but not for the overtime hours needed by the officers who remained behind on duty in Hennepin County.

HCSO was granted the ASIS International Public-Private Partnership Award in recognition of its Shield program, which builds relationships between law enforcement and local businesses and security providers. The award was presented at the annual ASIS conference in Chicago.[26]

HCSO, along with the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Police Departments, was presented the 2016 Outstanding Achievement in the Prevention of Terrorism Award by the International Association of Chiefs of Police at the IACP national conference in San Diego.[27] The award is given annually by IACP to one domestic U.S., and one international law enforcement agency.[28]

HCSO was named one of 15 nationwide demonstration sites for "policing in the 21st Century" by the COPS Office.[29]