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Community Corner

Lakeville Cop Helps Stranded Motorist, Discovers Felony Warrant

This past Tuesday night police celebrated Night to Unite with over 68 neighborhoods across Lakeville.

Officer Jim Dronen was on patrol one night last week when he observed a vehicle broken down on the side of the road with the hood up and three individuals standing around the vehicle. He stopped to offer assistance and ran a registration check as he was pulling up to their location.

The computer check revealed that the owner of the vehicle had a felony arrest warrant. Officer Dronen located and identified the owner of the vehicle and arrested him on the felony warrant.

Officer Dronen transported the subject to the Dakota County Jail in Hastings on the arrest warrant, after making sure the other two passengers had a friend coming to assist them. 

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NIGHT TO UNITE “KICK OFF” EVENT AT SENIOR CENTER 

Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom and Dakota County Sheriff Dave Bellows stopped by the Lakeville Senior Center on Tuesday morning to help kick off the 2012 Night to Unite celebration. County Attorney Backstrom and Sheriff Bellows have attended the event for the past few years to speak with the seniors present about crime prevention and safety. The seniors enjoy cake and root beer floats provided by Lakeville Night to Unite, local sponsor Target stores. Several of the local Target atore employees also volunteer throughout the evening. Sheriff Bellows started his law enforcement career as a Lakeville police officer and is a long time Lakeville resident.

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NIGHT TO UNITE RECAP

This past Tuesday night we celebrated Night to Unite with over 68 neighborhoods across Lakeville celebrating their solidarity in fighting crime and keeping our community safe in organized block parties. Although the majority of Night to Unite block parties are just on one street, the trend in the past few years has been for more of the neighborhoods to band together and sponsor larger parties that include several blocks in a residential development. 

This year we had picture perfect summer weather and all the parties were very well attended. Officers Jim Stevens and Jessica Swaner were responsible for organizing the Night to Unite event in Lakeville this year and did a great job in making sure that every block party had a visit from a police officer. They also reported that there was a slight decline in the number of parties this year, but that there were larger neighborhood parties. It was clear to me, after attending several Night to Unite block parties on Tuesday night with Mayor Bellows, that this mid-summer celebration of getting to know your neighbors and taking a stand against crime, remains very popular with our residents. 

Every neighborhood is a little different in their approach to how they host the Night to Unite block parties. Some very large events include barricades blocking traffic on the street while other parties are hosted on a back deck or in the driveway, with all the neighbors just getting an opportunity to casually stand around and chat. All of this strengthens our neighborhoods, giving residents a chance to meet each other and making Lakeville a safer community. 

In addition to Officers Stevens and Swaner, Sergeant Jim Puncochar, Officer Nic Stevens, Officer Rick Hakanson, Officer Anna Limbeck and Captain John Arvidson all attended Night to Unite parties. Mayor Mark Bellows and City Council members Laurie Rieb, Kerrin Swecker, Matt Little and Colleen LaBeau rode with officers and firefighters and attended block parties through the evening. Lakeville Fire Department Officers and Firefighters made visits in their fire trucks to block parties during the night as well. One reason Night to Unite is such a popular annual event with our residents is that it provides an opportunity to meet and talk with the police officers, firefighters and City Council members during the evening. 

WEEKLY  SNAPSHOT

Sampling of LPD activity for the week of Aug. 1-7, 2012 

Traffic crashes: 14 Alarms: 26 Animal Calls: 38 Medical Emergency Calls: 32 Thefts: 16 Traffic Stops: 193 

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