The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) is the sheriff's office for

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapol ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. HCSO's main offices are in

Minneapolis City Hall Minneapolis City Hall and Hennepin County Courthouse (also known as the Municipal Building), designed by Long and Kees in 1888, is the main building used by the city government of Minneapolis, as well as by Hennepin County, in the U.S. state of Mi ...

in the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. The office manages the county jail, patrols waterways, provides security for the District Court, handles home foreclosures, participates in

homeland security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...

activities and in law enforcement, and by state law is responsible for handling applications for permits to carry a firearm for residents of Hennepin County. The HCSO Crime Lab Unit is one of six crime labs in Minnesota accredited by the

American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD, pronounced 'azz-clad') is a nonprofit society for forensic science. Membership is multinational, and is open to crime lab directors, managers or supervisors. ASCLD holds an annual members' c ...

Laboratory Accreditation Board. The HCSO Patrol Unit provides supplemental patrol coverage to a number of smaller police agencies in northwestern Hennepin County as well as specialized patrol service and assistance to all Hennepin County law enforcement agencies. In addition, the Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement service provider to the following: *

Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anth ...

* Greenfield *

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

* Medicine Lake * Rockford * County Home School (a

youth detention center In criminal justice systems, a youth detention center, known as a juvenile detention center (JDC),Stahl, Dean, Karen Kerchelich, and Ralph De Sola. ''Abbreviations Dictionary''. CRC Press, 20011202. Retrieved 23 August 2010. , . juvenile det ...

) * Hennepin County Workhouse (a

jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

) * The

133rd Airlift Wing The 133rd Airlift Wing (133 AW) is a unit of the Minnesota Air National Guard, stationed at Minneapolis–Saint Paul Joint Air Reserve Station, Minnesota. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Mob ...

of the Minnesota Air National Guard * The

934th Airlift Wing The 934th Airlift Wing is an Air Reserve Component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to Twenty-Second Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) and is stationed at Minneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station, Minnesota. Mission ...

of the U.S. Air Force * U.S. Navy/Marine Corps Reserves

History

Patrick D. McGowan (R) was elected sheriff in 1995. The HCSO was a major component of the Metro Gang Strike Force, which was created by the state legislature in 2005 after the Minnesota Gang Strike Force was dissolved. It was shut down in 2009 due to rampant corruption and abuse. In 2010, a $3 million settlement was reached between the agencies that made up the Strike Force and 96 individuals who claimed to be victims of misconduct by the Strike Force. Richard W. Stanek (R) was elected sheriff in 2007. Later in 2007, Sheriff Stanek used $30,000 of

civil forfeiture Asset forfeiture or asset seizure is a form of confiscation of assets by the authorities. In the United States, it is a type of criminal-justice financial obligation. It typically applies to the alleged proceeds or instruments of crime. This ap ...

funds that were earmarked for training to produce a video on the

I-35W Mississippi River bridge The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Minneap ...

; this incurred criticism from the mayor of Minneapolis

R.T. Rybak Raymond Thomas Rybak Jr. (born November 12, 1955) is an American politician, journalist, businessman, and activist who served as the 46th mayor of Minneapolis from 2002 to 2014. In the 2001 election Rybak defeated incumbent Sharon Sayles Belton ...

and Minneapolis police chief Tim Dolan, who claimed the video contained false information and stole credit from the city government. The company that produced the video was also used by Stanek for his 2006 campaign.

2016 deployment to North Dakota

In October 2016, the HCSO provided support from its special operations division in response to

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

officials' mutual aid requests, for the

Dakota Access Pipeline protests The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, also called by the hashtag #NoDAPL, began in April 2016 as a grassroots opposition to the construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States and ended on Febru ...

, causing an outcry from Hennepin County citizens and leaders. HCSO deputies were deployed to Morton County, North Dakota, along with deputies from neighboring Anoka and Washington Counties, from October 23–31, 2016 as part of an Emergency Management Assistance Compact agreement between the state governments of Minnesota and North Dakota. Hundreds of citizens protested daily at Hennepin County Government Center and Minneapolis City Hall Among political leaders opposed to Sheriff Stanek's decision were Lieutenant Governor

Tina Smith Christine Elizabeth Smith (née Flint, born March 4, 1958) is an American politician, retired Democratic political consultant, and former businesswoman serving as the junior United States senator from Minnesota since 2018. She is a member of the ...

, U.S. Representative

Keith Ellison Keith Maurice Ellison (born August 4, 1963) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 30th attorney general of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Ellison was the U.S. representative for from 2007 to ...

, state Representative

Peggy Flanagan Peggy Flanagan (born September 22, 1979) is an American Democratic political organizer, activist, and politician serving as the 50th lieutenant governor of Minnesota. Flanagan has been involved in various political campaigns and progressive pol ...

, state Representative Karen Clark, state Senator

Patricia Torres Ray Patricia Torres Ray (born March 25, 1964) is a Colombian-American politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented District 63, which includes portions of sou ...

City Council members Alondra Cano and Cameron Gordon, Civil rights organizer

Clyde Bellecourt Clyde Howard Bellecourt (May 8, 1936 – January 11, 2022) was a Native American civil rights organizer. His Ojibwe name is ''Nee-gon-we-way-we-dun'', which means "Thunder Before the Storm". He founded the American Indian Movement (AIM) in Minn ...

and

commissioners Marion Greene, Linda Higgins, and

Peter McLaughlin Peter McLaughlin (born 1956) is an Irish academic, historian, and educator. He is the CEO of Max Learning Limited, the educational arm of the Max Group. He was Headmaster of The Doon School. Before joining Doon in 2009, he served as Headmaster ...

who, in a Facebook post said, "Indian Nations have a special interest in this issue and that interest must be protected! There's plenty for the Sheriff to do here in Hennepin County," said McLaughlin. "It is not a priority use of the Sheriff's office resources, which the Sheriff controls by virtue of his election. An online petition by

Honor the Earth Honor the Earth is a non-profit organization founded to raise awareness and financial support for Indigenous environmental justice. The organization was founded by Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers after meeting Winona LaDuke, and after cons ...

called on the Sheriff's department to desist in its participation. In response, Sheriff Stanek issued a statement explaining that his office responded to the request from North Dakota to maintain "the public's safety, preserve the peace, and protect the constitutional rights of protesters" and that the deployment was a routine mutual aid agreement between law enforcement agencies. Minnesota deputies were released from their duties in Morton County on October 31 after the state fulfilled its part of the EMAC agreement. Minnesota Governor

Mark Dayton Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to 1 ...

stated in an interview that the deployment was a routine mutual aid response, and that "It sounds like they conducted themselves very professionally." Financially, North Dakota eventually reimbursed Hennepin County for the salaries of the officers sent there, but not for the overtime hours needed by the officers who remained behind on duty in Hennepin County.

George Floyd

The HCSO was among the agencies that responded to the

George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Local protests over the murder of George Floyd (sometimes called the Minneapolis riots or Minneapolis uprising) began on May 26, 2020, and quickly inspired a global protest movement against police brutality and racial inequality. The initial ...

in 2020. Later, the HCSO was responsible for taking custody of

Derek Chauvin Derek Michael Chauvin ( ; born March 19, 1976) is an American former police officer who was convicted for the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chauvin was a member of the Minneapolis Police ...

and the three

Minneapolis Police The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) is the primary law enforcement agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is also the largest police department in Minnesota. Formed in 1867, it is the second-oldest police department in Minnesot ...

officers who failed to intervene during the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...

2021 – present

In December of 2021, Sheriff Hutchinson pled guilty to a misdemeanor DWI charge after crashing his vehicle near

Alexandria, Minnesota Alexandria is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Minnesota, United States. First settled in 1858, it was named after brothers Alexander and William Kinkead from Maryland. The form of the name alludes to Alexandria, Egypt, a center ...

. He was sentenced to two years of probation. Although the crash report showed that Hutchinson was driving at the time, he was not charged for extreme speed. Governor

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz ( ; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician and retired educator. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he has served as the 41st governor of Minnesota since 2019. Born in West Point, Nebraska, Walz ...

and Lieutenant Governor

called for his resignation, Hutchinson announced he would not seek reelection.In November 2022, Dawanna Witt was elected as the 29th Sheriff of Hennepin County, making her the first woman and person of color to hold the position.

Awards and honors

U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services Demonstration Site

HCSO was named one of 15 nationwide demonstration sites for "policing in the 21st Century" by the COPS Office of the federal

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

2016 IACP/Booz Allen Hamilton Award for the Outstanding Prevention of Terrorism

HCSO, along with the

and

Saint Paul Police Department The Saint Paul Police Department (SPPD) is the main law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It was established in 1854, making it the oldest police organization in the state. The SPPD is t ...

s, was presented the 2016 Outstanding Achievement in the Prevention of Terrorism Award by the

International Association of Chiefs of Police International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia (United States). It is the world's largest professional association for police The police are a constituted body of persons em ...

at the IACP national conference in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. The award is given annually by IACP to one domestic U.S., and one international law enforcement agency.

2019 ASIS International Public-Private Partnership Excellence Grant in honor of Matthew Simeone

HCSO was granted the

ASIS International ASIS International, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the we ...

Public-Private Partnership Award in recognition of its Shield program, which builds relationships between law enforcement and local businesses and security providers. The award was presented at the annual ASIS conference in Chicago.

Notes

External links

* {{official, http://www.hennepinsheriff.org
Hennepin County

Hennepin County Emergency Squad

Hennepin County Water Patrol
Hennepin County, Minnesota Sheriffs' departments of Minnesota