06-29-2020-SWS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 29, 2020 2 confidence. They believe the selection of deputies is paramount in preventing things like that from happening. They have a community outreach and recruitment team that recruits members into the Sheriff's office. They have a long history of diversity within the Sheriff's office. Many staff spend a significant amount of time working in the jail which gives them the opportunity to learn de-escalation techniques. He felt it was important for the public to recognize their department is different from a lot of others in that sense. Undersheriff Ramacher continued by saying de-escalation is referenced in a number of their policies but doesn't have its own specific policy. But it is the backbone of their training. Commander Baebenroth said de-escalation techniques are incorporated into almost every aspect of training. They conduct scenarios with a role player of a person in crisis and have the deputies respond to the situation to de-escalate it. Some of the past training includes suicidal persons where the deputy has to use verbal de-escalation skills, stressing care, compassion and empathy. It is also incorporated in the use of force training and they always try to de-escalate any situation. Some deputies participate in a 35 hour crisis intervention course and they help train the rest of the staff. They also stress things like using cover and concealment (keeping a physical structure in between you and the person you're interacting with) and the importance of maintaining distance, along with a normal speaking tone. Undersheriff Ramacher noted that they are in the process of revising some of their policies to update language. The likely place for a de-escalation section will be within their use of force policy. Mayor Grant felt if the de-escalation was a section of its own that would bring it to the forefront of a deputy's knowledge. Undersheriff Ramacher responded that de-escalation has been engrained in their training for years, it's a matter of putting it into technical terms into one of their documents. Mayor Grant asked if the City would have input or get a copy of the de-escalation policies. Undersheriff Ramacher replied that he could show them the language prior to it being okayed by the Sheriff. Councilmember Holmes said some departments are thinking about sending unarmed officers or social workers to certain situations that aren't violent. She wondered if their department had started considering situations where a fully armed officer doesn't go to a situation that could escalate because the officer has a weapon. Undersheriff Ramacher said they haven't considered that but they have different units that are unarmed like Community Service Officers that work with the homeless. They utilize some of those approaches already but they do not have plans to change the way they operate in response to calls for service within the contract cities. Undersheriff Ramacher noted they have a number of different types of personnel within the Sheriff's office. Reserve Deputies are volunteers, Community Affairs Officers are volunteers and