Housing Authority, Police Department Criticized for Planned K9 Training Exercise

(KNSI) – The Kandiyohi County Housing and Redevelopment Authority is coming under fire after allegedly allowing the Willmar Police Department to use an occupied apartment complex for K9 officer training purposes without advance notice to tenants.

A photo of a flyer posted in the apartment was obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. On it, the Kandiyohi County HRA told residents of the Lakeview Apartment Complex they were pleased to partner with the Willmar Police Department for K9 training exercises in the building and that the police would be coming in “at any hour during days, evenings and weekends and without the Kandiyohi County HRA providing further notice to tenants and guests.” The flyer said the police would have access to the grounds, all common areas, hallways, stairways, and vacant apartments.

That prompted the ACLU of Minnesota to fire off a letter to the Willmar City Council, the mayor, and the Kandiyohi County HRA, saying, “Such a scheme would essentially forcefully convert the homes and living spaces of all of the Lakeview residents into a de facto police state.” The letter was also copied to the Willmar City Administrator, Police Chief Jim Felt, and the City Attorney.

The ACLU said it is concerned the training would involve stop and search maneuvers like sniffing at tenant doors, citations, and arrests. They say it opens the door to excessive force and raises the question of constitutionality under the fourth amendment protecting people from unreasonable search and seizure with lack of consent and lack of “articulable suspicion of criminal activity.”

Calling it bad public policy, the ACLU says the training exercises will “disproportionately subject public housing residents, including low-income earners, immigrants, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to a police training experiment without their consent at a time in which our state is experiencing trauma related to police excessive force.”

The ACLU urged the Kandiyohi County HRA to sever its partnership with the Willmar Police Department in relation to the training at Lakeview Apartments.

KNSI reached out to other local area sheriff’s offices and police departments regarding their K9 training tactics and whether occupied buildings such as apartment complexes are used.

From the responses we received, none of them employ K9 training tactics in occupied buildings. One said that vacant buildings are used with the owner’s consent, and if training were done in a building that is otherwise occupied, it would take place after hours and again, with the owner’s consent. Another said K-9 training in real-world scenarios is critical to ensuring the dog and handler are ready to be of service to our citizens at a moment’s notice. They train in a variety of buildings when not occupied by the general public. If training does require people to be present, it is done with volunteers and other officers who understand and consent to the activities. The exception to this would be a bloodhound during a missing person investigation.

In an email sent to KNSI by Willmar Police Chief Jim Felt, he said the ACLU did not contact the department before the letter was sent and explained that members of the community had also not directed any questions or comments to neither he nor the department about the training.

Felt says he is “extremely disappointed in the misinformation and implications that the ACLU placed in their letter, along with their associated social media postings.”

He explains that no K-9 training or other law enforcement training has taken place at the Lakeview Apartment complex to date. No training exercises will be conducted at the Lakeview Apartment complex while this matter and the concerns raised are under review, and that “at no time was it the intention of the Willmar Police Department for this training to focus on individual residents of the Lakeview Apartment complex, their guests or occupied units in the complex.” He says the City will review the concerns raised about this program by the ACLU and respond directly to the ACLU.

Felt says the Willmar Police Department “works very hard to provide fair and impartial law enforcement to all community members and to continually build positive relationships with those we serve.”

Terri Nelson with the ACLU of Minnesota says they have not received a formal response yet, but, Willmar Mayor Marv Calvin did respond via email to say that his understanding is that staff are “planning on discontinuing this training until more information is obtained.”

An email sent to the Kandiyohi County HRA was not immediately returned.

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