Eagan Police Chief Explains How The Curfew Has Helped

EAGAN, MN — The city of Eagan has enforced a special curfew since Friday after violent protests erupted in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd. Police Chief Roger New

"I would like to begin by thanking Eagan residents for complying with the county curfew over the weekend and being patient as we continue to work to keep our community safe," New wrote in a letter to Eagan residents.

"I’m certain there are questions as to why we extended our curfew in Eagan for Monday and Tuesday, while other communities near us chose not to. I would like to explain our rationale. After reviewing the data over the weekend, it was apparent to me that there was a lot of activity in our community, which warranted the continuation of a curfew."

Here’s a summary of what Eagan police saw:

Suspicious Activity Calls

Memorial weekend: (5/21 – 5/25) - 68

Two weeks ago: (5/14 – 5/18) - 64

This past weekend: (5/28 – 6/1) we had 226 calls related to this call category

Equivalent to this weekend in 2019: (5/30 – 6/3) - 46

Other Types of Calls

11 calls of “Vandalism/Property Damage

14 calls with “Protest” in the comments

Eagan police say 10 calls with "pursuit" or "flee" in the comments. Typically, police see this amount of pursuit calls in a year. The vehicles police have been pursuing have not had license plates on them.

"I shared this information with city officials and our Mayor and City Council seeking their support with the continuation of a curfew to keep our community safe, which they granted," New said.

"The past 10 weeks have been a challenging time in our country, as we’ve managed the Covid-19 pandemic, and now we are faced with piecing things together following the death of George Floyd. Again, I would like to thank the community for your patience as we work through this, and our Mayor and City Council for giving law enforcement the tools to keep the community safe."

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