Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson Speaks to the Excelsior Rotary
Posted by Steve Frazier
on Mar 29, 2011
Jim Olson who is the Carver County Sheriff presented the program on March 29th. His position is an elective job, although he has been a full-time employee of the department for 24 years. During the question period, he was asked why the sheriff is elected and not appointed, and he said that it is good to have the head of the department answerable and responsible directly to the voters. Jim is only the 15th sheriff to have served Carver County since 1855.
Carver County is the county just South and West of Hennepin County, and includes the towns of Chaska, Chanhassen, Waconia, New Germany, Mayer, Watertown, Carver, Cologne, Norwood, Young America, and Victoria. The sheriff's department is the only local police authority in the county other than the city of Chaska, which has its own department. Carver is one of the smaller counties in Minnesota based on its area of 376 square miles, but the region is currently undergoing a population explosion growing from 14,000 in 1940 to over 90,000 now. There were 40,000 "calls for service" generated by this population last year, down about 2% from the year before.
The annual budget for the department is about $17,000,000.00 per year. This figure includes the payroll for the 162 full-time employees, half of whom are licensed police officers. Nowadays, there has to be a police officer assigned to duty in each of the schools. They have an Explorer Program established that allows young people interested in police work to meet and work with active officers.
The county ranges from highly sophisticated residential areas to areas in the west that are still family farms, so generalizations are difficult, but Jim stated that identity theft and paper crimes are increasing fastest in Carver County. The last homicide was in 2006. Crime does not honor county lines, so much of their work in done cooperatively with other police units, including South Lake, Hennepin County, and state and federal police units.
Carver County is the county just South and West of Hennepin County, and includes the towns of Chaska, Chanhassen, Waconia, New Germany, Mayer, Watertown, Carver, Cologne, Norwood, Young America, and Victoria. The sheriff's department is the only local police authority in the county other than the city of Chaska, which has its own department. Carver is one of the smaller counties in Minnesota based on its area of 376 square miles, but the region is currently undergoing a population explosion growing from 14,000 in 1940 to over 90,000 now. There were 40,000 "calls for service" generated by this population last year, down about 2% from the year before.
The annual budget for the department is about $17,000,000.00 per year. This figure includes the payroll for the 162 full-time employees, half of whom are licensed police officers. Nowadays, there has to be a police officer assigned to duty in each of the schools. They have an Explorer Program established that allows young people interested in police work to meet and work with active officers.
The county ranges from highly sophisticated residential areas to areas in the west that are still family farms, so generalizations are difficult, but Jim stated that identity theft and paper crimes are increasing fastest in Carver County. The last homicide was in 2006. Crime does not honor county lines, so much of their work in done cooperatively with other police units, including South Lake, Hennepin County, and state and federal police units.
(Story by Tad Shaw and posting and photo by Steve Frazier)