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Lakeville police highlight hires, training and crisis-response routing in Q4 report
Summary
Police Chief Bridal Paulson told the council the department added four sworn officers and expanded its crisis response routing, with 88% of crisis-response calls handled without police involvement; the chief also described training, community events and a DUI case with THC-positive blood results.
Chief Bridal Paulson told the Lakeville City Council the police department’s fourth-quarter report and annual statistics show growth in staffing, training and alternative crisis response.
“We exist to ensure an excellent quality of life in Lakeville by serving and protecting in a professional and innovative way,” Chief Bridal Paulson said as she introduced the report. She said four patrol officers began in early November and the department recently filled a community service officer role, describing an internal hiring pipeline from CSO to sworn officer ranks.
The chief highlighted regional partnerships and the ‘First Center’ facility staffing, and listed community programs such as Santa in Blue and Shop with a Hero that run through the Public Safety Foundation. She said training remains a priority, citing firearms, defensive tactics and crime-scene drills.
Paulson cited a traffic-stop case in which the driver was arrested for DWI, blood drawn under a search warrant tested positive for a “significant level of THC,” and charges are pending. On crisis response, she said 88% of calls routed to the crisis response unit in Lakeville were handled without police involvement, and that staff see that routing as freeing officers for other calls while providing callers preferred services.
Councilors praised the internal hiring pipeline and asked about interstate traffic enforcement; Paulson said freeways are primarily patrolled by state troopers and Lakeville’s enforcement focuses on local streets. She and councilors also discussed year-over-year shifts in DUI and assault reports and how winter conditions affect crash numbers.
The presentation closed with an overview of social-media outreach and public-engagement programs and the chief answered follow-up questions from council members.
