Public safety / From page 34
LAKE MINNETONKA
COMMUNITY GUIDE 2025
Public safety / From page 34
Minnetonka’ s police and fire departments are commandeered by Police Chief Scott Boerboom and Fire Chief Kevin Fox, who work together to keep roughly 53,000 residents safe.
Targeting increased public safety, the city started a project in March 2020 to upgrade the public safety facilities on the city hall campus at 14600 Minnetonka Blvd. The completed project included the construction of a new fire station and police station remodel, both of which will help improve safety and response time, as well as accommodate a growing workforce and protect critical equipment.
The update creates more space for officers and employees, adds separate locker rooms for female employees, creates adequate storage space for evidence and garage space for emergency vehicles, adds an updated decontamination area to reduce firefighters’ exposure to cancer-causing agents and helps to attract quality employees.
The city also operates four additional fire stations throughout the city in which each resident and business is within 6 minutes of a fire station.
In recent years, the police department has added the position of community engagement officer. Officer Chad Fierst heads the program, focusing on bettering the way first responders handle increasing mental health calls. As part of this response, the department has partnered with the city of Plymouth to create a mental health unit focused on reducing repeat mental health-related calls and providing better outcomes for those in crisis.
Minnetonka also added a licensed therapy dog, Sampson, to the police department in 2023. Sampson lives at the department full time and is trained to provide officers with comfort when he notices anxious cues such as high blood pressure or cortisol levels. He also responds to calls and provides comfort to victims following traumatic incidents on a case-by-case basis.
Wayzata
The Wayzata Police Department and Fire Department continue to grow and find resources to better protect and serve the community. With the police department receiving two $ 92,000 grants for the years 2023 and 2024 to include a DWI traffic safety officer on its force, the department has been able to study indicators of impaired driving to help officers with future traffic stops.
Marc Schultz officially became the sixth police chief in Wayzata’ s history when he was sworn into the leadership position in the fall of 2021.
Schultz follows in the footsteps of Mike Risvold, who served as police chief for 17 years before retiring in March 2021, wrapping up a 32-year career in law enforcement.
However, in 2024 Schultz announced his retirement and the position is currently being held by Interim Chief Jamie Baker who previously served as the deputy chief of police.
The Wayzata Police Department serves Wayzata and Long
Lake and employs 15 sworn officers. Non-sworn personnel consist of two full-time police administrative records specialists and a part-time community service officer. The department also has a volunteer police reserve unit.
The Wayzata Police Department incorporated a K-9 program with Wayzata Police Sgt. Jason Gehrman and Loki, his Belgian Malinois search-and-rescue dog who received the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Excellence in Innovation Award in 2024.
A more recent addition to the program has been Officer Anders Seeland and Riggs, a German shepherd / Belgian Malinois mixed breed who specializes in narcotics detection and apprehension.
The Wayzata Fire Department is a paid-on-call volunteer unit that serves 3.8 square miles of Wayzata. The department also contracts with Woodland for its fire coverage.
The fire department has auto aid as well as mutual aid agreements with all cities within Hennepin County.
The department is headed by Fire Chief Kevin Klapprich, who has served as chief since 2006. Klapprich comes from a family of five generations of firefighters in Wayzata. His father, Paul, was fire chief and served 48 years in the department. Klapprich’ s brother, Kurt, serves as assistant fire chief.
The department has approximately 30 members and answered more than 300 calls for service as well as gained 29 on-call volunteer firefighters in 2024. For more info, visit wayzata. org / 212 / Fire-Department.
LAKE MINNETONKA | COMMUNITY GUIDE | 2025 | 35