Did South Dakota Highway Patrol crime report give Sioux Falls a black eye?
City officials credit Gov. Rhoden, state police after rectifying erroneous Prairie Thunder arrest counts revealed by The Dakota Scout
State police are taking flak for conflating the number of arrests made last month in a government crime crackdown.
Sioux Falls officials at both City Hall and behind the dais at City Council chambers downtown aren’t happy about inaccurate arrest counts tallied during a three-day saturation conducted in late August by the Highway Patrol in eastern South Dakota.
“We need to have clear data to continue to give the public confidence in the safety of our community and also build trust in the effort underway, which has caused lots of concern,'“ City Council Chairman Rich Merkouris told The Dakota Scout after the regional newspaper revealed Saturday the Highway Patrol inflated the number of arrests made during its first Operation: Prairie Thunder deployment.
Last week, Gov. Larry Rhoden took to South Dakota airwaves to tout that his public safety initiative’s first saturation patrol netted 174 drug arrests. But an investigation by The Scout revealed state troopers made fewer than 100 drug arrests, and more than 30 of the individuals cited or charged by state troopers were never jailed, according to Minnehaha County Jail records.
The 174 drug “arrests” reported by the Highway Patrol represented total drug charges leveled during the saturation.
The state-provided totals — also publicized across the United States — inflated arrests by no fewer than 75. In all, 99 people were arrested in the three-day patrol, The Scout determined.
Of these 78 individuals, 51 were booked into jail, and
Only 68 people were booked into jail by the Highway Patrol during that time, while the state has since also clarified that 51 of those were related to Operation: Prairie Thunder. Another 27 individuals in the arrest numbers were cited and released on scene with a notice to appear in court.
Neither the governor's office nor the Department of Public Safety — the state department that oversees the Highway Patrol — are disputing The Scout’s findings. Both confirm the law enforcement agency logs every charge as an arrest — even if multiple charges stem from the same person or if no one goes to jail.
The Highway Patrol’s saturation came at the direction of the governor, who in July launched the public safety campaign inspired by President Donald Trump’s law and order crackdown in high-crime U.S. metropolitans.
The initiative pairs South Dakota troopers with federal immigration authorities, allowing them to carry out deportation arrests of foreign nationals in state custody. The heightened presence of troopers in Sioux Falls — assisted by aerial surveillance — that also came as part of Operation Prairie Thunder focused on drug interdiction, violent crime and parole absconders.
DPS officials have since committed to changing how arrests are logged.
Sioux Falls officials say they welcome help from the South Dakota Highway Patrol but are uneasy with how the state portrayed the results of last month’s three-day crime crackdown in the city.
Merkouris gave the governor’s office credit for swiftly addressing the shortcoming.
"I really appreciate the efforts of the Highway Patrol in Sioux Falls focused on helping with speeding, drugs and parole absconders,” Merkouris said. “It sounds like they want to clarify the data and that is really appreciated.”
Councilor Richard Thomason also said he supports the city’s police force and appreciates the added manpower and transparency around the results Operation: Prairie Thunder is delivering for Sioux Falls.
"I will say, I think our police force is doing more than a great job, and no one will complain about extra troopers helping out.," Thomason said. "And I’m glad The Scout made sure we're all on the same page about what's going on out there."
Actual solid journalism, Dakota Scout. I thought that was a thing of the past.
It sounds like Sioux Falls City Council and City Hall need to learn from the mistakes of Portland, OR -- where I lived for 28 years before returning home to SD. So I speak from experience when I say: The end result your policies and rhetoric is Portland OR. You chide law enforcement? They do too. You hate Trump. They do too. You make excuses for lawlessness and drug addiction? They do too, so both abound in their communities.
You are scaring me, Sioux Falls. Seriously. Look around and learn from the mistakes of others.