Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Welcome to Agenda Edina, a program summarizing the actions taken at City Hall that affect you most. I'm your host, Dorothea Marty. Edina's parks are for everyone, but when large gatherings or other disturbances create safety concerns or interfere with other people's ability to enjoy a park, The City needs to have the tools and resources to respond. Following recent incidents, the City is taking a three-part approach focused on enforcement, engagement, and policy. First, enforcement. The Dyna Police Department has increased its presence in parks during peak evening hours and is using additional officers, police cadets, and reserve officers to provide greater visibility. Police are also using intelligence-led policing and mobile cameras to identify patterns, respond proactively, and deploy resources where they are needed most. At its meeting earlier this month, the City Council approved a joint powers agreement for the Dinah Police Department to join the BCA's Violent Crime Reduction Unit.

One of the things that's helpful for us is when we get into task force environments, and so I refer to those as force multipliers. And the BCA had stood up a violent crime reduction unit a few years back to really start to deal with the influx of gun violence across the region. So day in and day out that task force again focuses on that proactive work and is really resourceful and strategic and going after the most violent and most prolific offenders that exist. And we think that's key for our community. We're at that point. We of course have taken our recent high profile cases very seriously and we are very much intentional in applying the right resources to help solve these crimes and really reduce these events from happening in the future.

Second, engagement. The City and Police Department are working with community leaders, families, youth organizations, and other partners to build relationships and address concerns before they become public safety issues. That includes creating more opportunities for young people to participate in positive, structured activities and increasing staff and police presence in parks and at community events. And third, policy. The City Council is considering changes to the City's Park Ordinance that would give the City additional tools to manage large gatherings and organized activities. The City is also evaluating additional policy options related to public safety and firearms in parks and other public spaces. Addressing these issues will require more than one solution. The City is reviewing enforcement, engagement, and policy options at the local, regional, and state levels. This includes working with public safety partners and community leaders to determine what approaches will be most effective.

You know, I think in Edina, like every other community, we want our parks to be places where people can enjoy themselves and everybody is safe every time they're in the park. Because if we've got some sort of rapidly maturing gang activity, we want to nip that in the bud and get the bad people caught, get the followers back on the right track, and make sure that our whole metropolitan region is safe. And if we're in this together, it enhances our police power and gives us the ability to really help each other out. And that's so Minnesotan, I think, really helping each other out.