FAIRMONT– Earlier this month Fairmont Police Chief, Mike Hunter, provided the Fairmont City Council with the 2023 Fairmont Police Annual Report. The department has been compiling the report annually since 2017.

“In January we send out notice to staff that we’re going to start compiling our annual report from the year before. Certain staff and officers are responsible for updating information for our annual report and I take it all and put it in one document,” Hunter said.

This year’s report is 47 pages. Hunter said the goal with compiling and presenting the report is to not only keep the city council informed, but to make the community aware of the department’s involvement in different activities and actions.

The report includes information about Officer Bryan Boltje’s April 2023 retirement and the July 2023 retirement of part-time officer, Will Murray.

“We brought on three new full-time officers and also established in 2023 a Community Service Officer (CSO) Cadet program, which was unique to our department,” Hunter said.

The goal with that is to focus on giving local law enforcement students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in the hopes of retaining them for future employment.

“We’re very happy to have support with that position and it’s been working out well,” Hunter said.

He said that the department has found that its website is a great tool for hiring and recruitment so all of the employment listings are on there and people can apply through it. In 2024, the department is starting off with some retirements and will be looking for quality candidates to hire.

“When people ask me what we look for in a candidate, years ago it was what was on their resume but we have shifted to character-based hiring. I’m looking for good people who we can train to do good work,” Hunter said.

A major focus of the 2023 report is on the engagement the department has with the community. Everything from information on the School Resource Officer (SRO) and the Adopt-A-Cop program, to details on Fairmont Night Out and Shop With A Cop is included in the report.

“We also highlighted our Emergency Response Unit, Crisis Intervention Team, Controlled Substance Investigations and partnership with Martin County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (MCSAP),” Hunter said.

While nothing was new with the department’s vehicles in 2023, Hunter said it will be a highlight for next year’s report as several of the vehicles– and their equipment– are going to be updated later this year.

Hunter said that in 2023 the department noticed a significant drop in narcotic-related offenses and part of it was due to the legislative changes in law regarding recreational cannabis use for adults which took effect in August 2023.

“As a profession, we’ve adapted to those changes and we’re still seeing the state of Minnesota roll out more changes in 2024 and are in anticipation of retail sales of recreational cannabis for adults in 2025,” Hunter said.

He said he’s working on educating officers on the changes as he gets information from the state.

Moving to statistics provided in the report, Hunter shared that the department’s overall calls for service for 2023 was up just under 10 percent, at 9.28 percent. In total there were 9,963 calls for service.

“They continue to steadily rise since our numbers were a little lower during the Covid era of 2020 and 2021,” Hunter said.

Another significant statistic is the assigned crime report which is reported to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. With that, Hunter said there was a slight increase of a half-percent from 2022, but an overall decrease of 35 percent from five years ago.

“We’re happy to see that and contribute the decrease over the last five years to a lot of positive work that’s been going on in our community with several criminal justice partners and community initiatives such as MCSAP and chemical dependency and mental health resources. By collaboratively working together we’re seeing the impact of some of that positive work going on and the result of that is a lower crime rate than five years ago,” Hunter said.

At the end fo the day, Hunter said he is proud that the annual report showcases the quality of the staff and officers that work for the Fairmont Police Department.

“I’m proud of this crew of staff and officers and proud of the work they do in this community,” he said.

The full annual report can be found on the department’s website at fairmontpolice.org.