FAIRMONT– The Fairmont Police Department has released its annual report from 2021. Chief Mike Hunter said while they’re not required to compile a report, he feels it’s important to keep the citizens informed on the work of the department.

Members of the department work on the report over the course of January by compiling data, statistics and an overall recap of the previous year.

“2021 was a year we started out with Covid restrictions. We continued to operate under some of those like we did in 2020,” Hunter explained.

However, as restrictions loosened throughout the year, Hunter said they ended up with a higher number of calls for service than they had in 2020. There were 8,641 calls for service in 2021, which was up from 7,699 the previous year.

Hunter said both of those years are down from previous, pre-Covid years. He said he believes part of the reason is that fewer people were out and about and also that many businesses had shorter hours.

“We also had to change the way we provided some services in the community. We had to use more discretion in responding to certain medical calls to make sure we weren’t the ones putting people in danger of Covid exposure,” Hunter explained.

He said so far, two months into 2022, it looks like it will be a more normal-looking year in terms of number of calls.

The lead categories for calls for service in 2021 were consistent with previous years, which include traffic stops, animal complaints, escorts, directed patrols, information calls, civil calls, parking offenses and ordinance violations.

In 2021, Fridays accounted for the most calls for service, whereas in 2020, Wednesdays typically saw the highest amount of calls. By time of day, the most calls came between 10 and 11 p.m. in 2021, which is consistent with previous years.

Hunter said 2020 was a pretty quiet year in terms of narcotics but in 2021 they began to see numbers increase again.

“We’ve also seen an increase in arrests in methamphetamine related offenses,” Hunter said.

In fact, there was a 62 percent increase from 2020. Narcotics education and enforcement will continue to be a priority in 2022. Hunter said they’re working with the Martin County Sheriff’s Department and the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force.

In 2021, two new positions were also added to the department. In May, retired police officer, Brad Buhmann assumed the role of Community Service Officer.

“That’s a civilianized role to focus on enforcement of local ordinances,” Hunter explained.

The year ended with a 155 percent increase in ordinance enforcement calls compared to 2020 numbers. Hunter said they found that having one person who’s dedicated to ordinance enforcement allows them to focus on communication and follow up so that there’s greater compliance.

“We had a great start in 2021 and we’re looking forward to fine-tuning that in 2022,” Hunter said.

A new Victim Services Investigator position, filled by Jason Christenson, was also established in July. It’s a career development position in which a patrol officer is taken off the streets for two years and given the opportunity to work out of the operations and investigations office under the sergeant assigned to that duty.

“That officer works cases that involves child protection, vulnerable adult abuse and with our victims of domestic assault and sexual abuse. They focus on follow up and coordination of services with people who have been victimized in those categories,” Hunter said.

Information about community programs department members were able to participate in with less restrictions in 2021 are also included in the report.

“We were able to get back into the classrooms for the Adopt-A-Cop program which we’re very happy to be involved in. It’s always been a positive thing for the schools but also a positive opportunity for our officers. It’s hard to have a bad day when you have a group of first graders cheering you on,” Hunter said.

The officers were also able to partake in their annual Shop with a Cop event in December. This was the biggest year for the event, with 14 police officers shopping for 24 kids.

“The thing I’m always most proud of about our annual report, is the officers and staff that it represents and the work they do in our community. It gives the community the opportunity to see what we’re involved in and see what our department has done over the year,” Hunter said.

The whole 43-page report can be viewed by going to www.fairmontpolice.org. It’s under the “helpful resources” tab along with annual reports from 2016 to 2021.