Police Chief: Sub-Zero Cold a Pain for Lakeville Police

Police work for an officer working on patrol often involves being outside in the elements for extended periods of time. In Minnesota, that can mean being exposed to a wide range of weather conditions ranging from the hot and humid temperatures of the summer to huge snowstorms and artic-like temperatures in the winter. This past week, we have experienced some of the coldest temperatures in the past four years in Lakeville, with several days of below zero temperatures and wind chill temperatures in the -20 to -40 degree range. 

The risk of suffering cold injuries such as frost bite can occur in a matter of only minutes for exposed skin at those temperatures. Officers working on patrol have to make sure they have protective cold weather clothing with them at all times, in the event they would be out in the elements for an extended period of time. 

This is always a balancing act because cold weather clothing is often very bulky and difficult to work in, but the officers need to have clothing that will adequately protect them from the extreme below zero temperatures that we can experience during the winter. Most officers will have multiple sets of gloves and hats in their squad of varying weights and thickness available to them depending on how long they will be out in the cold. 

Since the weather can be life threatening when the temperatures and wind chills fall well below zero, officers spend a great deal of time patrolling roadways looking for stalled motorists or others who might be out in the elements. Fortunately, we did not have any reports of significant injuries related to the cold during this most recent weather event, but we did respond to some calls of fire alarms going off due to burst water pipes in buildings from the cold temperatures. Well, winter is almost half over. 

SHOPLIFTING ARREST 

Officers Mike Lamm and Chris Gartzke responded to a local restaurant after receiving a call from a local retail store of a shoplifting suspect who had stolen product and then fled the retail store and entered a nearby restaurant. 

The officers were met at the entrance to the restaurant by an asset protection employee from the retail store. The asset protection person told the officers that the suspect had fled the retail store by running across the parking lot and then had gone into the restaurant. The officers entered the restaurant and asked the shoplifting suspect to step outside. The suspect was positively identified by the asset protection person and also admitted to the offense. The officers subsequently charged the subject with misdemeanor theft and released. 

WEEKLY LPD SNAPSHOT

Sampling of LPD activity for the week of Jan. 15 to Jan. 22, 2013

Traffic crashes: 7 Alarms: 31 Animal Calls: 36 Medical Emergency Calls: 36 Thefts: 11 Traffic Stops: 174.