Sheriff Rich Stanek

Our Program on March 18th was a presentation by Rich Stanek, the Hennepin County Sheriff. His office is elective, and he has held it for eight years. Prior to that, he worked in law enforcement for a number of years.                

 

His first message was about “active shooters” and what to do if you get into a dangerous situation. The three word answer is that if you are in an active shooter situation, the sequence of options is: “Run – Hide – Fight”. He ran a video that companies can use in their emergency planning. The county has an armored vehicle for use in these types of situations, and police personnel have had training in how to handle these problems.                 

 

The sheriff’s office has primary jurisdiction in some areas of the county, and is a backup service for all of the county’s emergency needs. There are over 2800 local police in Hennepin County, and the sheriff’s office provides much of the county-wide services for the area. The water patrol, the crime lab, court services, and 911 dispatch in most of the county are the responsibility of their office.   

 

It is amazing to see the numbers of police events they handled last year.