The Menahga Police Department (PD) is the only one in Wadena County that doesn’t have body cameras.
When asked what are the department’s greatest needs at Monday’s city council meeting, Police Chief Amy Lane said she’s started a list, “but I’m realistic about what the budget is and what this is going to cost. Body cams, I think, are a huge thing that we need to get implemented. It saves us a lot of liability having them.”
Lane said she would look into possible funding sources, like Sourcewell.
“The squad (car) is obviously the biggest purchase that needs to get taken care of before it really starts nickel-and-diming us,” she said.
Lane is also looking for some office equipment, such as a locked cabinet to store tasers, ammo and less lethal munitions. “That should all be under lock and key.”
At the March 27 meeting, the council signed an annual $3,500 contract with the Wadena County Information Technology Department to provide software, hardware and networking services to the Menahga PD.
Mayor Liz Olson asked if the city’s server provided ample security.
County IT Director Dave Hotchkiss explained there are more stringent security protocols for law enforcement data than civilian data. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) do not allow these servers to be commingled.
“Right now, we’re not in compliance. Not even close?” asked council member Jody Bjornson.
Hotchkiss shook his head, adding he tried to have a conversation about this security issue with Lane’s predecessor, Adam Gunderson.
Civilian networks are more likely to be compromised, Hotchkiss said, so separate servers remove that risk. It also eliminates the internal risk of city staff accidentally seeing law enforcement documents or investigations.
Hotchkiss recently had a conference with the FBI and BCA about new, additional requirements that will soon be implemented, such as a 30-day password retention, 20-character passwords and a six-digit code to sign into the virtual private network.
Holding up a 240-page book about BCA regulations, Hotchkiss said, “Kind of a scary situation for you folks.”
By tying with Wadena County IT, City Administrator Lacey Erickson noted that the Menahga PD’s dashboard cam, body cam, interviews and other data will be accessible to Wadena County Attorney Kyra Ladd.
Hotchkiss said all data is backed up in three different locations.
A current problem, Lane said, is that the PD’s digital evidence computer crashed at the beginning of December. “And we are stuck. We can’t get video or audio off our squad cameras, nothing.”
“Isn’t that kind of interesting, though. The timing,” said Olson.
Gunderson resigned as police chief on Dec. 2, 2022.
“We were able to retrieve the information off the hard drive of that computer, but since the beginning of December we haven’t been able to download anything. Everything is just going on flash drives and that’s the way it’s being stored,” Lane continued.
Hotchkiss said flash drives are less than ideal because they fail.
“We have cases going to court that I can’t even provide the evidence – the squad video or audio – because we’re stuck right now,” Lane said.
Erickson confirmed there was money in the police budget. The council unanimously approved the agreement with IT.
Hotchkiss said it would be operational in a few weeks.
The council opened requests for proposals (RFPs) from six engineering firms: Northern Engineering, Moore, Ulteig, Windseth, Apex and Bolton & Menk.
Unable to review the in-depth RFPs at the meeting, the council agreed to set up a subcommittee. Olson appointed council members Dan Warmbold and Bjornson to the committee, which will peruse the RFPs with Erickson and consultant Betty Thomsen. They will whittle the candidates down to the top two and return to the council.
In other business, the council did this:
