With residents warning them that a possible future Philando Castile-type shooting would be on their heads, the St. Anthony City Council, on Tuesday, April 23, went ahead and voted 4 to 1 to continue looking at a reestablishment of police service to Falcon Heights. Council Member Thomas Randle cast the dissenting vote.
The hard number crunching hasn’t happened yet, but an agreement between the two cities to reinstate police service in Falcon Heights could be expensive.
The two city councils held a town hall meeting Thursday, April 18 at St. Anthony City Hall to present the results of citizen surveys, police interviews and staffing projections. A similar meeting had been held the night before in Falcon Heights.
Allison Winters, director of public relations for Goff Public, presented the results of an online survey conducted March 1-April 12. There were 455 responses, 233 from Falcon Heights residents (4% of the population) and 222 from St. Anthony (2% of the population). No reason was given for the low response from St. Anthony residents, although Winters noted that the most common response was that they saw no benefit to the city for providing police services to Falcon Heights.
Falcon Heights residents were more positive, citing their desire for community-based policing and an increase in service. (Falcon Heights currently receives police service from Ramsey County.)
Dr. Chad Weinstein, president of Ethical Leaders in Action, spoke next. He interviewed St. Anthony police officers individually and in small groups of two and three. He also interviewed a couple of officers during ride-alongs. “I have worked with more than 100 public sector employees,” he said. “I was completely impressed with the St. Anthony Police Department. They have a high degree of humanity and compassion and commitment to their profession. They have confidence in their culture and an openness to learn.”
The officers who were on staff when Officer Jeronimo Yanez killed Philando Castile remember Falcon Heights citizens welcoming them to their community, then an abrupt end to the relationship. Rebuilding a relationship will take time. “They want to know they are supported” by the community, Weinstein said.
The police also had operational concerns. Falcon Heights’ contract with Ramsey County runs out Dec. 31, 2024. SAPD officers do not feel they can provide effective services before Jan. 1, 2026. They need time to staff up, and recruiting new officers is not an easy task in a post-George Floyd world. Additional fleet vehicles will be needed, and they might need more office space than they currently have. Officers receive 12 weeks of field training after they are hired, and some trainees drop out during training.
Weinstein said SAPD officers had a message for council members: If you’re going to do this, do it carefully, judiciously. Do it right.
St. Anthony City Manager Charlie Yunker preceded Winters and Weinstein and offered up some statistics and some police department asks.
SAPD has 20 sworn officers. That will increase to 22 on July 1. The department has also has five officers who are nearing retirement age. Looking at call data, SAPD will need four additional officers, the same number who previously served Falcon Heights. They would need two more officers during high call volume times, according to an analysis presented to the city council two years ago.
They also would need an additional officer for investigations. They have one full-time investigator now and one who works on a rotating schedule.
SAPD would also like to have one officer dedicated to community engagement. This officer would work with the city of Lauderdale, for which St. Anthony has provided policing services since 1993, and Falcon Heights as well as St. Anthony.
They would also need an additional full-time person to work in administration. The previous contract with Falcon Heights provided for a half-time position.
In all, SAPD would need nine new employees. This number does not take into account replacements for upcoming retirements.
Yunker said the “very preliminary” price tag for additional personnel, operating and equipment costs (such as squad cars) is $1.4 million to $1.5 million. A contract between Falcon Heights and St. Anthony for 2026 is estimated at $1.6 million to $1.8 million. (The Ramsey County Sheriff’s contract with Falcon Heights rises to $1.7 million in July.)
At the April 23 council meeting, Yunker clarified that SAPD had brought up the possibility of expanding police facilities last year. “This building [City Hall] was built in 1995,” Yunker said. “It’s largely unchanged.”
Council members, who rarely get beyond council chambers within the building, took a facilities tour in January of this year and were surprised to learn that the police department offices were full to bursting and there’s no room in the garage for additional squad cars.
Council Member Jan Jenson noted that 43% of St. Anthony’s annual budget pays for the police department. He also noted that St. Anthony provides accounting services for Birchwood Village, a tiny community in Washington County, Nine North, which provides video services for St. Anthony and the City of Roseville and schools, as well as the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization. The city receives income from these entities and provides affordable services for them, Jenson said. “We provide economy of scale,” he said. In his view, sharing police services would do the same thing.
Several St. Anthony residents spoke against reestablishment, saying they didn’t want an increase in their taxes. Council Member Andrea Stephens replied that the risks should be shared equitably by the two communities and noted that before making a decision, “We need to look at the numbers.”
Council Member Lona Doolan said she wants to see a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).
Randle wondered, “Is a 2026 start date even doable, given the difficulty in hiring police officers?”
Mayor Wendy Webster observed, “We need to make sure we’re mitigating risks” before signing a contract. She also said having a larger police force available would make it easier for St. Anthony cops to take a vacation without feeling like they’re placing a burden on fellow officers.
Then the council voted to take a more detailed look at the possible costs and risks. Documents released by the City of St. Anthony and passed along to the Northeaster show the city has spent, to date, $9,405 on public relations services from Goff Public (including designing and tabulating the survey) and $9,000 for Ethical Leaders in Action’s work with SAPD.
Right, population figures from U.S. 2020 Census. St. Anthony has provided policing services to Lauderdale since 1993. Staffing estimates from St. Anthony Police Department. (Graphic by Davis Steen)