Mental health issues, domestic assaults dominate police work

A large increase in mental health problems, domestic assaults plus alcohol and drug activity are keeping the local police department hopping.

“There’s been a large increase in mental health area issues. Sometimes those are mixed together, to create problems,” said Minneota Police Chief Bill Bolt.

He said a felony, domestic issue and Code of Conduct issues all came up around the Fourth of July holiday.

They included a serious domestic issue, suicidal behavior and disorderly conduct.

“Any time I press charges or make an arrest, there are 15-30 hours of interviewing, writing reports, data entry involved,” said the chief.

He is pretty much a one-man department with some part-time help so the paperwork addresses a lot of his time.

“One domestic abuse case on July third demanded seven typed pages,” he said. “Details really matter,” said the chief, “so these cases often become time consuming.”

The recent cases, “Came on the heels of each other, so I was lucky because we’ve got limited resources and there is only so much that can be done be a small staff,” he indicated.

The current cases were still in the processing, reviewing stages on Monday, July 9.

An area of concern earlier has become nearly a mute issue.

Domestic cases at community apartment complexes are quieting due to apartment managers working hard to screen potential residents and attention to the matters of apartment living.

“They are doing a great job of containing issues,” the chief said.