County attorney: fewer diversion cases, legalization changed search tactics and lowered drug/gun detections

Sterns County Attorney Janelle Kendall told the Paynesville City Council the county's diversion program is shrinking as fewer first-time offenders enter the criminal system and that recent legal changes have affected how many drug and gun cases are discovered.

Kendall said the diversion program is "mandated by law and it keeps getting smaller every year because we have less and less firsttime offenders," and that misdemeanor filings for the city have remained "remarkably consistent from year to year." She also reported two juvenile felony referrals from Paynesville this year.

Kendall told council members that legalization of recreational marijuana altered police search practices. "When marijuana was illegal and an officer pulled someone over ... the marijuana smoke would roll out of the window ... that gave us a basis to search the car," she said. With legalization, she continued, "that is no longer a valid reason," and the county has seen roughly half the drug cases and half the gun recoveries it previously reported.

Council members pressed for data linking marijuana use to other drug or weapon possession; Kendall and the police chief said that data would be found in individual incident reports and complaints and is available for review. The county attorney noted local prosecutors and law enforcement are watching changes in drug-prosecution patterns and awaiting more reliable testing methods for impairment: "We'll get to that and I'm sure the science will catch up to it."

Kendall also said the staff member who manages diversion and truancy cases is retiring after 22 years; the position will be posted and county staff expect a handover period through April.

The session included a short question-and-answer period in which officials reiterated that court rulings and statutory choices by the legislature (the speaker referenced a case by name) limit the use of odor or possession as a search basis. Councilors urged staff to compile correlation data from complaints to separate perception from measurable trends. The council did not take formal action on the presentation; staff said data and recruitment plans will be provided to council as available.

The meeting discussion clarifies how changes in state law have shifted the criminal workload for local prosecutors and law enforcement and flagged the upcoming vacancy in the county diversion office as a near-term personnel priority.