Crime & Safety
Safety Update For Richfield Residents
Death of Mr. Floyd has sparked outrage and demonstrations which have continued for several days and are expected to continue in the future.
May 29, 2020
Richfield residents,
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"On Monday, May 25, we were deeply disturbed to learn of the tragic death of George Floyd and the unacceptable conduct of the officers involved. It is contrary to the mission and values of our city and our departments and erodes the trust we have sought to build with residents. Our thoughts are with Mr. Floyd’s family, friends and a grieving region right now.
The death of Mr. Floyd has sparked outrage and demonstrations which have continued for several days and are expected to continue into the future. We respect and understand residents wanting to peacefully protest but some of the demonstrations have resulted in acts of vandalism, arson, looting, and other crimes of violence throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Numerous individuals committed crimes of opportunity, including burglaries of retail businesses, as law enforcement resources were dedicated to other areas of concern.
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The Richfield Police Department is continually monitoring the evolving situation and has taken proactive measures to reduce and/or prevent these criminal activities from impacting our community. Yesterday, the department worked with local businesses to thwart planned looting and more than tripled our patrol presence overnight. The Richfield Fire Department also increased overnight staffing to augment emergency response.
Between 6 p.m. last night and 6 a.m. this morning, our officers responded to eight confirmed burglaries/attempted burglaries of local businesses, one shooting incident, and 15 other calls of suspicious activity where our officers interrupted burglaries about to take place. Most officers were out keeping Richfield residents safe for more than 18 hours straight.
Although this has been an extremely challenging time, our officers and firefighters are strongly committed to providing the highest quality public safety services to residents. Now and in the future, if residents believe they are witnessing any form of illegal activity, please call 911, immediately."
Sincerely,
Katie Rodriguez
City Manager
Jay Henthorne
Police Chief
Wayne Kewitsch
Fire Chief
This press release was produced by the City of Richfield. The views expressed here are the author’s own.