Lakeville Police Stop Burglary in Progress at Local Business

Officers on patrol respond to intrusion (burglar) alarms all the time. It is not uncommon for an officer to respond to an intrusion alarm almost every shift. The vast majority of the time when there is a call of an intrusion alarm, it is actually a false alarm. The sensors on the alarms are very sensitive and if not properly set, can be activated by a wide variety of causes including the wind, heat vents or even lights. 

Many businesses and residences in our community have intrusion alarms and even though there can be false alarms, the vast majority of officers encourage their use for a couple of reasons. The first is that an intrusion alarm can be a real deterrent to a potential burglar who would likely not want to enter a building with an alarm due to the significantly increased chance of being discovered and arrested. The second reason that officers like alarmed buildings is that it gives the officers a chance to apprehend a burglar in the commission of the crime. 

One night this past week, Officer Shawn Fitzhenry responded to multiple intrusion alarms at a single location in a business park. Upon arriving in the area, he determined that employees working late in the building had triggered one of the alarms. 

In investigating the alarms further, he located two suspicious individuals by a pickup truck near a portion of the building that was under construction. One of the individuals quickly walked away from Officer Fitzhenry as he pulled up. Officer Fitzhenry was immediately suspicious of the two and detained the individual who had remained by the pickup truck. While Officer Fitzhenry interviewed the subject, additional officers checked the area. 

The assisting officers discovered that there was forced entry on the building and tracks leading back to the pickup truck. Additional officers also located the second subject a short distance away. The two subjects were arrested on suspicion of burglary and both charged with burglary. 

NEW LPD CAPTAIN 

Captain Tim Knutson was introduced to the City Council at the City Council meeting this past Monday night in recognition of his recent promotion to Captain. Tim was hired by the LPD in 1990 after serving two years as a patrol officer in Garden City, Kansas. Once hired by LPD, Tim served as a patrol officer, a DARE officer and one of our School Resource Officers at Lakeville High School before being promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Tim also served on the Lakeville Planning Commission as an ex officio staff representative of the Police Department. 

As a sergeant Tim led a number of patrol teams and also served as liaison for the Lakeville Police Reserve unit. Tim took over the duties of Administrative Sergeant for the Department in 2004 and served in that capacity until 2009. During that time, Tim was the lead person for the team representing the Police Department in the planning, design and construction of the new Lakeville Police Station. 

Captain Knutson started his new assignment as Patrol Division commander on 

January 1, 2013 and as a sign of support for Captain Knutson, many officers were present in the City Council Chambers on Monday night to see the presentation. 

WEEKLY LPD SNAPSHOT

Sampling of LPD activity for the week of Jan. 31 to Feb. 7, 2013

Traffic crashes: 19 Alarms: 32 Animal Calls: 14 Medical Emergency Calls: 25 Thefts: 15 Traffic Stops: 281.