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County emergency management outlines volunteer policing, rescue and dive teams, spotter program
Summary
Minnehaha County Emergency Management presented its 2024 overview to the commission, detailing volunteer units — police reserve, rescue squad and dive team — and partnership work with local agencies and the National Weather Service.
Maria Monkfold, the county emergency management representative, briefed the Minnehaha County Commission on March 4 about the office’s mission, volunteer units and recent exercises.
Lede: Monkfold said the office coordinates preparedness, response and recovery planning, and supports three volunteer programs — a police reserve (36 certified officers in 2024), a rescue squad (16 members) and a 16-person dive team — that together donated thousands of hours last year.
Nut graf: The volunteer programs extend county capacity for special events, search-and-rescue, water and ice rescue, and spotter work for severe-weather response; the program model relies heavily on interagency training and donated hours.
Body: Monkfold told commissioners the police reserve unit worked with Brandon police, the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office, Sioux Falls PD, Game, Fish and Parks and the highway department. She said the reserves logged 7,775 donated hours in 2024 and noted minimum annual training and duty-hour expectations for members.
She described the rescue squad’s role in search and rescue, water rescue and EMS support, saying the team logged about 1,792 hours in 2024 and participates as severe-weather spotters. Monkfold also summarized a recent multiagency exercise that emphasized self-rescue techniques, slings, backboards and dive-search practice; she said the exercise was valuable because the county already recorded three ice rescues in early 2025.
The dive team, Monkfold said, assists with evidence recovery, body recovery and dive operations and currently works closely with the Sioux Falls fire dive team while larger departments finalize independent dive capability.
Ending: The emergency management office highlighted ongoing liaison work with the National Weather Service, rural fire and ambulance providers and with state emergency-management authorities to ensure compliance and resource allocation. Monkfold invited questions and said she would continue coordination with rural partners.
