HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 03.a.vMemorandum
To: Dennis Feller
From: Captain Kevin Manias
Copy:
Date: October 25, 2013
Subject: 2014 Investigative Objectives
ITEM 3.a.v
City of Lakeville
Police Department
The 2014 General Fund Police Department budget includes funding for an additional
Investigator. The justification is based on an increase in (a) the caseload of the
Investigative Division and (b) computer forensics.
For 2014, the primary objectives of the Investigations Division of the Lakeville Police
Department are:
• Maintain our historical level of service and responsiveness
• Reverse the drop (54% to 50 %) in our criminal clearance rate that occurred in
2012
• Institute a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) for the digital forensics unit
Investigations Caseload
There is one significant challenge present that will impact our ability to accomplish the
above listed objectives. That challenge is the overall demand for investigative services.
The core group of detectives in the investigations division is comprised of five
detectives: one permanent, three on- going, and one patrol rotator. That current core
group of five detectives was created in 1997 when the group was increased from four
to five detectives. The population of Lakeville in 1997 was 37,303. We are now
approaching 60,000 population and, as you can imagine, there is a significantly greater
demand for investigative resources.
The number of cases forwarded to the Investigative Division has increased from 746 in
2011 to 855 in 2012. This represents a 14.6% increase in cases assigned in the past
year. While our Part I and Part II total crime totals have decreased over the past year,
there has been a significant increase in two categories of crimes that are normally
referred to the Investigations Division. Those categories are burglaries and
fraud. From 2011 to 2012, there was a 19% increase in burglary incidents and a 23%
increase in incidents of fraud. Burglary and fraud cases are very labor intensive in
terms of the level of follow -up required by detectives.
Computer forensics
We have completed our first full year of operations in our digital forensics unit, and that
first full year of operations has seen a 1200% increase in the number of forensic
examinations with Detective Helmueller spending a total of 835 hours conducting
forensic examinations. There seems to be a digital evidence component to almost
every crime now, and the demand for forensic examinations will most certainly
increase. It is our expectation that we ultimately will lose Detective Helmueller as a
general assignment detective as his forensic examination skill will be needed on a full
time basis. That would result in a 20% drop in our detective resources used for general
investigations.
A reduction of that magnitude cannot help but to negatively impact the timeliness and
level of follow -up provided by our detectives. High priority cases will still receive the
attention they deserve; however, detectives will have no choice but to reduce their level
of effort on cases with low solvability. That ultimately will impact our overall clearance
rate for solving crimes. Furthermore, since the ability to conduct forensic examinations
is becoming so crucial to an ever increasing array of criminal investigations, it is of
paramount importance that the Lakeville Police Department be able to maintain the
ability to conduct forensic examinations in the event that Detective Helmueller is no
longer able to, either in the short or long term. Developing the COOP plan for the unit
will involve utilizing the resources of Detective Helmueller and a second detective from
the investigative unit which will be a further drain on general investigative resources.
To combat these negative influences, we have requested an additional full time general
investigations detective in 2014. The additional position in 2014 will allow us to
maintain our core group of five general investigations detectives with Detective
Helmueller working full time focusing on digital forensic examinations and financial
crimes.