Law enforcement summit addresses alternatives to jail

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman joined more than 75 law enforcement officers and prosecutors from Hennepin and Ramsey Counties to discuss new ways to keep the public safe without adding to the prison population Thursday.

Ronal Serpas was brought in to discuss the work his organization, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration, has been doing over the past year around the country. Serpas is the former police chief in New Orleans and his emphasis now is providing police officers with alternatives to arresting people.

“If police are given an alternative, we know they will use it,” Serpas said. “Our jails should not be filled with people we are mad at, our jails should be filled with the people we are afraid of.”

Freeman and Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek moderated a session with Hennepin County deputies, police officers and prosecutors, to discuss some alternatives. The group zeroed in on finding ways to keep the mentally ill out of the jails for minor or nuisance crimes.

Freeman mentioned the drop off center at 1800 Chicago Ave. S, where police can take a person they have picked up for a nuisance crime that obviously is rooted in a mental health issue, rather than booking them into the jail. There, they can be seen by mental health professionals.

Stanek mentioned that the Hennepin County Board recently approved construction of a 150-bed facility on the grounds of the county workhouse in Plymouth, which will be used as an alternative to jail for those suffering from mental illness.

“We cannot arrest and prosecute our way out of the issues that face us,” Freeman said.

He noted that more work also needs to be done at the legislature to change drug laws. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Freeman led the successful effort in 2016 to increase the amount of marijuana a person is selling or possessing before it becomes a felony. But Freeman noted that anyone with up to 42 grams of marijuana is charged with a petty misdemeanor, but anything over that immediately is charged with a felony.

“That’s ludicrous,” Freeman said and he already has instructed his prosecutors to look at alternatives, such as diversion, to keep those with less than 100 grams from being charged with a felony. He would like to see the legislature change the law so that the severity increases in stages to misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor as the amount of marijuana increases.

The group hopes to meet again soon to continue discussing alternatives.