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Special City Council Meeting Thursday,May 22,2014 Page 15 Mr. Mathwig advised that, if a commercial patrol officer is added to the City, Wal-Mart's commitment is over. Councilmember Willmus requested additional information on the types of inci- dents being seen at Wal-Mart, opining that the information from the St. Anthony Village Wal-Mart store appeared to be significantly different than what was being shown to Roseville by Wal-Mart; and he wanted to reconcile that, depending on how"incident"was being defined. Mr. Mathwig advised that the information was available and would be provided, and included thefts, crashes in the parking lot, proactive police visits; and further investments of staff time to create a security presence at Wal-Mart. At the request of Councilmember McGehee, Mr. Mathwig advised that tuition was part of union contracts, but this request involved focuses on masters degrees and above and could affect an officer's pay, and allow the City to get better- educated employees. As noted by Councilmember McGehee, Mr. Mathwig con- firmed that it was rare for an officer without a four-year degree to apply, with tui- tion part of their negotiated contract, the additional monies would go toward an MBA or higher, above past education covered in their contract and what those employees brought to the table. As a teacher, Councilmember Etten noted that, if he takes a class that increases his compensation, he was required to pay for the continuing education in full without reimbursement by his School District, which was typical of most School Districts; with a higher pay grade when the courses were completed,but not reim- bursed for the class or related expenses. Councilmember Etten expressed appreciation for the bar graph provided in the supplemental materials and entitled"Total Commercial Incidents including Proac- tive Police Visits, supporting the positive approach to dissuade activities. Coun- cilmember Etten questioned if there was any rationale for how and why those crime trends had unfortunately skyrocketed, whether it was a new base or just an abnormal year; and how it fit into the overall picture. Councilmember Etten opined that it was hard to budget on a one year explosion unless there was evi- dence things were not going back to the previous level. In response, Mr. Mathwig stated that he saw no large changes in dynamics or economics, and attributed the increase to the relationship building and personal contact officers had when walking through retail and commercial establishments. Mr. Mathwig opined that the crimes show that suspicious people observed and in- cidents had always been there, but the department may not have been aware of them. Mr. Mathwig again emphasized the relationship building and trust being built allowing people to share information and for officers to see and hear what was happening. Mr. Mathwig opined that the numbers in past years would have