Hennepin County Sheriff's Office
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office is the sheriff's office for Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. HCSO's main offices are in Minneapolis City Hall in the county seat of Minneapolis.
The office manages the county jail, patrols waterways, provides security for the District Court, handles home foreclosures, participates in homeland security activities and in law enforcement, and by state law is responsible for handling applications for permits to carry a firearm for residents of Hennepin County. The HCSO Crime Lab Unit is one of six crime labs in Minnesota accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board. The HCSO Patrol Unit provides supplemental patrol coverage to a number of smaller police agencies in northwestern Hennepin County as well as specialized patrol service and assistance to all Hennepin County law enforcement agencies. In addition, the Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement service provider to the following:
- Fort Snelling
- Greenfield
- Hanover
- Medicine Lake
- Rockford
- County Home School
- Hennepin County Workhouse
- The 133rd Airlift Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard
- The 934th Airlift Wing of the U.S. Air Force
- U.S. Navy/Marine Corps Reserves
History
Patrick D. McGowan was elected sheriff in 1995.The HCSO was a major component of the Metro Gang Strike Force, which was created by the state legislature in 2005 after the Minnesota Gang Strike Force was dissolved. It was shut down in 2009 due to rampant corruption and abuse. In 2010, a $3 million settlement was reached between the agencies that made up the Strike Force and 96 individuals who claimed to be victims of misconduct by the Strike Force.
Richard W. Stanek was elected sheriff in 2007. Later in 2007, Sheriff Stanek used $30,000 of civil forfeiture funds that were earmarked for training to produce a video on the I-35W Mississippi River bridge; this incurred criticism from the mayor of Minneapolis R.T. Rybak and Minneapolis police chief Tim Dolan, who claimed the video contained false information and stole credit from the city government. The company that produced the video was also used by Stanek for his 2006 campaign.
2016 deployment to North Dakota
In October 2016, the HCSO provided support from its special operations division in response to North Dakota officials' mutual aid requests, for the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, causing an outcry from Hennepin County citizens and leaders. HCSO deputies were deployed to Morton County, North Dakota, along with deputies from neighboring Anoka and Washington Counties, from October 23–31, 2016 as part of an Emergency Management Assistance Compact agreement between the state governments of Minnesota and North Dakota.Hundreds of citizens protested daily at Hennepin County Government Center and Minneapolis City Hall Among political leaders opposed to Sheriff Stanek's decision were Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith, U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, state Representative Peggy Flanagan, state Representative Karen Clark, state Senator Patricia Torres Ray, Minneapolis City Council members Alondra Cano and Cameron Gordon, Civil rights organizer Clyde Bellecourt and Hennepin County commissioners Marion Greene, Linda Higgins, and Peter McLaughlin who, in a Facebook post said, "Indian Nations have a special interest in this issue and that interest must be protected! There's plenty for the Sheriff to do here in Hennepin County," said McLaughlin. "It is not a priority use of the Sheriff's office resources, which the Sheriff controls by virtue of his election.
An online petition by Honor the Earth called on the Sheriff's department to desist in its participation.
In response, Sheriff Stanek issued a statement explaining that his office responded to the request from North Dakota to maintain "the public's safety, preserve the peace, and protect the constitutional rights of protesters" and that the deployment was a routine mutual aid agreement between law enforcement agencies. Minnesota deputies were released from their duties in Morton County on October 31 after the state fulfilled its part of the EMAC agreement. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton stated in an interview that the deployment was a routine mutual aid response, and that "It sounds like they conducted themselves very professionally." Financially, North Dakota eventually reimbursed Hennepin County for the salaries of the officers sent there, but not for the overtime hours needed by the officers who remained behind on duty in Hennepin County.