Top Cop in Mendota Heights Talks Shop with Patch

To keep Mendota Heights, Lilydale and Mendota residents updated on  the latest in police and public safety news, Patch will be sitting down with Police Chief Mike Aschenbrener every few weeks to discuss the latest crime news and safety concerns in the area. This week, Aschenbrener explains the unique challenges a hard winter and hard economy are throwing at area residents, and outlines the potential pitfalls of state budget cuts.

What challenges has the police department faced in the last few weeks?

The Mendota Heights Police Department has been dealing with the effects of both a tough winter and harsh economy, according to Police Chief Mike Aschenbrener. A series of gas thefts (people driving off from a gas pump without paying) have occurred in the area, along with an inordinate number of crisis calls in the past month. Aschenbrener wasn’t surprised by either trend.

“You’ve got a truly heavy-duty winter, and the economy isn’t screaming along like it once was,” said Aschenbrener. “Emotionally it’s a been a hard winter on people. There was one week in January when we did almost as many (psychiatric) commitments for evaluation as we usually do in a month."

The economy aside, Aschenbrener said that the high number of domestic disturbance calls the police department has responded to recently is by no means unusual for this time of year. “People feel cooped up and take it out on the people they live with,” he explained.

What effect would state budget reductions have on the department?

Aschenbrener is holding regular meetings with his staff to discuss how Mendota Heights police will deal with impending state budget cuts that won’t set in until after the snow melts. The police department begins planning for fiscal year 2012 this week, with direction from the city council to hold the police department budget flat.
While the chief couldn’t be specific about the effect cuts at the state level will have on policing specifically, he anticipated that the need for social services usually provided by the county–and the resulting reduction or unavailability of those services following budget cuts–will ultimately fall to cities and their police departments to fill. However, he said that police departments don’t have the resources to adequately respond to certain situations like drug detoxification and psychiatric care needs. Both are county services Aschenbrener anticipates being reduced in the future, even as demand for them rises.

“It’s the Catch-22 of government. People don’t want to (put money toward social services), but when it’s their brother or sister contemplating bad things, they expect somebody to be there for them,” he said.

“Most of the people (who use social services) don’t have an insurance card in their back pocket,” continued Aschenbrener. “When the economy’s bad, it falls to the rest of us to help them.”

While the current fiscal crisis seems unprecedented to some, Aschenbrener wasn't surprised by challenges this recession has posed. Referencing the early 1980s recession, the chief said that the problems facing city government and the MHPD are cyclical. “It’s nothing people in my line of work haven’t seen before.”