Access to Democracy
Since 1999, Access to Democracy has been a staple of Minnesota television. The program has featured more than 2,000 half-hour interviews with politicians, legislators, judges, academics, athletes, public figures, and everyday residents. Guests often share their expertise and debate with the host.
Access to Democracy
Eagan Police Chief Salim Omari
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Host Steve Francisco talks with Eagan Police Chief Salim Omari about his new role as Police Chief and the challenges that first responders face.
Hello and welcome to Access to Democracy. I'm your host, Steve Francisco. Thank you for joining us today. Our program is made possible by our sponsors Recalibra Health, the 45th Parallel Distillery, Sheridan and Dulas Professional Association Law Firm, and True Stone Financial. We have a very special guest in studio today, the relatively new police chief of the city of Egan. It's my pleasure to welcome Chief Salem Omari of the Egan Police Department. Chief, welcome to your first appearance on Access to Democracy. Thank you, Steve. I really appreciate you having me. So when did you become chief?
SPEAKER_01How long have you been in the job? Yeah, so I started first day in office on November 24th. So we're still relatively new, but uh certainly uh pushing forward.
SPEAKER_02And for our viewers who may not know you yet, uh tell us a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, and where you went to school.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, thank you for that. Yeah, so I uh I grew up in South Minneapolis, so not very far from Egan here. Um I grew up to both immigrant parents who who came to the United States in the 70s and raised a family. Um after high school, uh, which I attended in Minneapolis, I attended the University of St. Thomas. And um uh that's where I uh did my uh undergrad education as well as my grad school graduation uh education. So you're really a local kid, grew up in not far away. Yeah, Steve. Other than for travel and some training, I haven't left Minnesota or the Midwest here. Which high school did you graduate from? South High School in Minneapolis.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. Next door I graduated from Roosevelt in Minneapolis. Much earlier than you did, I suspect. Fair. So uh how did you become interested in a career in law enforcement? What led you to follow this as a career path?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, Steve, I think there's uh I'm so grateful for the people that have touched me in my life. And for me, it was it started out with my high school school resource officer, a guy by the name of Jim Bender, who um really saw some leadership qualities in me, saw um uh some drive and purpose, and he took me under his wing and just started mentoring me. But he took it a little bit further. When I was finishing up middle school, he introduced me to the school resource officer in high school, um, Jeff Sidel. And uh these two gentlemen uh both were invested in me, answered all the questions that I had about law enforcement and public safety and just uh truly a life of service. And so those two gentlemen are largely responsible uh for my interest in this profession. And it was really neat to be able to see people who are so dedicated to service uh just up front every single day through high school or through middle school and high school.
SPEAKER_02That's really great, and it underscores for us again the importance of having great mentors. You know, if we're fortunate, and I was too, a number of people who've helped us all along the way to become the people that we become and the careers that we pursue.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I like to I definitely like to uh pay homage to those people, not only those two, but uh all of my successes have been because people have seen something in me and and pushed me when I needed to be pushed, and people have seen, you know, don't be a knucklehead and they pulled me back when I needed to be pulled out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, most important, you were willing to put in the work and do it too. Yes, yeah. Very important. So tell us about which previous police departments have you worked in before you came to the Egan Police Department.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, just really blessed. I've had a really great career. I started out in 2004 in the city of Bloomington. Uh spent a little over two years there. Um, great city, great department. Um, and as uh, I guess that point a 25-year-old, um was looking to do some different things. Having grown up in Minneapolis and kind of knew more urban, uh urban city, urban policing. Um, I shifted over to the city of St. Paul where I spent the majority of my career and had many different uh opportunities and assignments there in St. Paul, where I spent about 18 years uh before coming here to the Egan Police Department.
SPEAKER_02So you've worked in both the second largest city in the state and the third largest. I think Bloomington still lays claim to third largest in the city.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think so they go back and forth with Rochester, perhaps. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Are you friends with Chief Hodges over there in Bloomington?
SPEAKER_01Yes. I've known Chief Hodges for a long time, all the way back to when he was at the Dakota County Sheriff's Office. Right. Uh, and certainly somebody who I connect with very regularly.
SPEAKER_02Very good. So tell us about some of your specific um responsibilities in serving both in St. Paul and in the Bloomington police department. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think, you know, to start with uh Bloomington, I worked as a patrol officer. Um, and you know, that's it's where you you you learn learn the importance of this work. Um and then when I went to St. Paul, I spent the first many years working as a patrol officer as well. And, you know, uh that's what a lot of our community members think of when they think of police officers. Somebody in a police car answering 911 calls, uh, maybe doing traffic enforcement, community engagement, and uh did that until 2010. Um I had an opportunity to take on a secondary role and as a SWAT operator in 2010. So I was doing that as well as being a patrol officer. And then in 2013 I shifted to work in gang investigations. Um those were that was an amazing couple years working uh gang investigations. And then in 2015 is when I started promoting. I promoted to the rank of sergeant. I worked in the training unit and ran police academies and department-wide training. Um I was a shift supervisor, uh, so a patrol supervisor. Uh, and then I got into command level positions uh in internal affairs, um, in patrol, in the training unit, um, and as a SWAT commander as well uh before leaving there as a district chief.
SPEAKER_02You've really had a remarkable career. It strikes me that Egan is very fortunate to have a chief with such broad experience in policing. You've pretty much done it all, right? From patrolmen up to these other increasing levels of responsibility within the departments that you served in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I feel really fortunate to have had those opportunities. And again, a lot of people who supported um uh uh and mentored me. Um yeah, the one of the things that I think is really important for us as police leaders is um to have found a strong foundation from a patrol standpoint. And then those first line supervisory positions are so important. Uh our our rank and file, they deserve strong leadership. Uh, they rely on strong leadership. And when you're a first-line supervisor, uh, you really get the opportunity to um lead uh several uh uh larger teams, several people who have different experiences and desires, and it's your job as that supervisor to kind of bring all those things together. And those are those experiences are what prepared me for the command level positions that ultimately I'm in now and what I spent the last five years in.
SPEAKER_02You know, and isn't it true that like so many jobs, the longer you're in these positions, the more you realize you need to learn. You're constantly growing and evolving as a police officer, having new experiences that you can apply to become more effective at your job.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you uh you nailed it. I I consider myself a student of leadership. Um every single day I I'm learning new things. Um and and and that's that's how I am as a father, as a husband, and and certainly in my my work. Part of who you are.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Chief, let's talk more specifically about the department that you are leading, the EGAM Police Department. How many sworn officers do we currently have in the EGAM Police Department?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, we have 73 officers today. Uh, but it's worth noting that we're authorized for 79 officers, which is a um it's a big goal of mine to make sure that we're fully staffed. Uh the there's a reason why the uh city leadership has supported 79 police officers in the city. Because there's a lot of things that we can and want to do as far as service providing to uh to to the residents, those that live, work, and visit Egan. And uh being fully staffed allows us to do all of those things. Uh, most importantly, preventing crime before it occurs, right? Engaging with community, uh, community connection is something I'm really passionate about. And having those staffing levels where we need them to be allows us to do those things.
SPEAKER_02Yes. And give give our viewers some idea about the process that one goes through to become a police officer, whether it's in the city of Egan or perhaps in another major department uh in Minnesota or elsewhere. Describe, if you would, what the training regimen is like from the application process, background checks, to what you have to learn before you can become a sworn officer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's great. I think it's worth starting at um, you know, it we always say I tell young people, um, if you want to be a police officer, that work starts right away because um uh the foundation that we set for ourselves is important, those things can follow us. Um so um uh throughout I I was actually here at uh I was at the Egan High School just recently talking with some some some kids about uh my work and and and what that path is. So um you have to have in the state of Minnesota, you have to have a degree, uh at least an associate's degree. There are some states that uh don't require, uh don't have an academic requirement. We do in Minnesota, and that's something I'm a big promote proponent of. Uh we want to make sure we have critical thinkers, people who um uh show dedication and commitment and are are able to uh uh uh process important legal matters as well as social matters. So that's part of it. Uh when you finish your um your classroom portion, if you will, in the state of Minnesota, we have something called skills. And I like to say that this is equivalent to like a statewide police academy. Um and that's where you're learning the hands-on stuff, the defensive tactics, the legal, uh, the the Minnesota State statute uh stuff, the driving, the um uh just more of the operational things that we have to do as police officers outside of the classroom. And once you've completed that, you're eligible to take what is called the uh post test, Minnesota post test. That's our license in board. And um, once you've taken that test, you're eligible for hire. Once you've taken and passed that test, you're eligible for hire.
SPEAKER_02Now, before you can even become uh accepted for training, uh applicants have to go undergo a background check, right? Does having a speeding ticket disqualify you from potentially being a police officer, or is it a little more serious than that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, great question. Um, I'm not as a as a chief who who selects uh employees to work here in Egan, um, a speeding ticket will not disqualify you from working here. But we're really looking at the total body of a background um and not just one specific thing. We are human beings and and uh no one's perfect. Uh, but yeah, we're looking at you know people's overall background check. There are some things that will eliminate your eligibility to even get hired. Conviction of a felony, perhaps. Yep, and crimes of violence. Crimes of violence. And there's some others as well.
SPEAKER_02Right. Um, I want to ask you real quickly about the training that officers undergo about constitutional rights, particularly this relates to police in the area of the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unreasonable search and seizures. There's generally, most people probably know there's generally a warrant requirement. Police are obligated to follow that. But tell us a little bit more about the constitutional training that you get, legal rights of citizens and non-citizens for that matter.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's worth noting that's not just something you get when you uh before you get hired, it's something we continue to provide our police officers throughout their training. That's in the academic setting. Uh, when I talked about people getting that associate's degree, they'll take constitutional law classes. And then uh, when we hire you, we keep putting people through that training. In fact, since I've been in Egan just in November, I've already had additional training on it. Recurrent training. Recurring training, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Very interesting. You know, we're gonna have more to talk about, but in just a few moments here, we will be right back. So don't leave us, but we're gonna have a little pause here, a message from our sponsors, and we'll be right back with more access to democracy with EGM Police Chief Salem Omari.
SPEAKER_00Access to democracy is made possible thanks to the following organizations. Recalibra Health, a new nationwide telehealth platform designed to provide safe and effective health and wellness products at affordable prices. Available products include compound GLP1 for weight loss, as well as multiple medications for men's and women's health and hair loss, all administered under the direct supervision of expert physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. Visit RecalibraHealth.com for more information. Sheridan and Dulas PA, a family and criminal defense law firm, has been serving clients in Dakota County and throughout Minnesota for over 40 years. Ranked the Tier 1 best law firm by U.S. News World Report every year since 2009. Sheridan and Dulas are here to help you in your most difficult life circumstances. Learn more at ssdpa.com. Established in 2007 and based in New Richmond, Wisconsin, 45th Parallel Distillery was among the first 50 micro distilleries in the United States. All aspects of production occur at their facility. If you're interested in learning more about the 45th Parallel Distillery, please check their website and plan a visit to tour their facility and taste their spirits. 45th Parallel Distillery.com. True Stone Financial, with locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin, has been proudly serving its members since 1939. True Stone engages, educates, and supports its members to ensure they have the tools to empower their financial well-being. True Stone Financial, your neighborhood credit union. Learn more at Truestone.org.
SPEAKER_02And we're back with Access to Democracy with Egan Police Chief Salem Omari. Chief, tell us about the crime stats for the city of Egan. How safe is the city of Egan? And what trends are you noticing in crime here in our city?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, you know, I jokingly tell people that the grass is greener here in Egan. This is a really safe community, and uh a lot of that is in tie is in part due to the great work happening in the police department, but as well as the great work happening in the community. So um uh I'm very happy to report that violent crime is very low here in the Egan, uh in the city of Egan. Um and uh, you know, some of the things that we are seeing are uh more societal matters. Um we have uh a lot of uh uh there's I'm certainly concerned about traffic safety in the city of Egan. Um we have too many impaired drivers on our roads throughout our state. Uh we're actually in our hundred deadliest uh days of summer right now, so that's a statewide thing. Um we're always looking to get people to slow down on our roadways. Uh some other areas in which we've uh uh seen um from a criminal from a crime standpoint is uh damage to property. Um we've had some um some thefts at our retail centers. Uh that's something that's really driving crime numbers right now. Um there's a lot of thefts at not only the Egan Outlet Mall, um, but at town center and some of those businesses. And I know that when businesses thrive, communities are much safer. So we're really trying to make sure we reduce those thefts and the impacts to those businesses.
SPEAKER_02Your predecessor was on this program some time ago, and he spoke about at that time about property crime. We were seeing a surge in thefts of catalytic converters for the metal inside there. Are we still seeing that or no?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's pretty much gone. It's pretty much gone, and that's been kind of a joint effort. The legislature uh changed several things as far as being able to purchase uh those catalytic converters. Every once in a while we still see one, but it's very infrequent now.
SPEAKER_02And I recall the Egam Police Department had a program too where people could bring their vehicle to a location and have those converters marked with an ID of some sort, which made it more difficult, presumably, to sell them illegally, too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that is correct.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So uh overall violent crime rate low. You it seems very rare that we ever hear about homicides in the city of Egan, thank goodness. Uh hopefully that stays the same too. I want to ask you about an area that the media's been reporting on a lot lately, which has to do with the growth of crime by computer. And we are talking about everything from illegal scams, particularly directed towards seniors. They can be directed toward anyone, but seniors seem to be particularly vulnerable. And also the use of computers to commit uh sexual offenses, soliciting minors for sex online. Are we seeing these types of crimes in Egan and what is our police department doing about that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you. Uh, we've certainly had uh instances in which um elderly uh community members have been victimized. Um there's there there's there these are people who are um looking for vulnerable people uh that they can victimize. And so we think had things such as um the cryptocurrency ATM scams, which thankfully uh we don't have anymore in Egan anymore, and the legislature has moved against those. Um, but even things like somebody showing up at your door saying you need a roof replacement, um, or somebody calling our senior citizens and saying, uh, hey, this is your bank, um, your account's been hacked, and we need to go in there and fix it for you. So, really a message to all of our community members is knowing that um your bank will never show uh call and ask you for passwords or social security numbers. And if it doesn't feel right, we ask you to physically go into your bank. And um, and when somebody shows up and says that your roof uh needs to be repaired, uh it's probably worth looking a little bit more into what their credentials are. And typically companies are not gonna just cold call you and show up at your door like that. Right. So that is certainly something we've seen.
SPEAKER_02And I've heard about crimes of people impersonating themselves as government officials, for example, from the IRS saying that we are going to come and arrest you if you don't send us a payment for X number of dollars. And some people sadly have fallen prey to those types of crimes as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm so glad you bring that up because I can tell you, as your police chief, uh, no government official will demand payment over the telephone. That's right. It just will never happen.
SPEAKER_02You're gonna get a letter, perhaps even a certified letter from the IRS or Social Security or whatever agency it is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so we really want you to call us if you get something and doesn't seem right, um, it's from an entity in which you think, I know I don't owe this uh any money or I don't suspect I do. Want you to call us so that we can have a conversation before you turn over any funds to anybody.
SPEAKER_02Crimes against children using computers, um, sexting, uh bullying online, these types of things. Now we realize, especially in bullying, not everything rises to the level perhaps of a criminal offense, but sometimes it does. Say a word about these types of crimes.
SPEAKER_01Well, first I'm very grateful that we have school resource officers here. Um our school resource officers have relationships with the kids in the school and the staff, and they're really able to help mitigate some of those matters with with uh our our our school staff. Um so are able to prevent kids from getting bullied, uh, but I do I think it's worth mentioning just the impact of social media and the um uh how easy it is to communicate on a on devices. Um and so we do have children who are um are bullied, uh repeated unwanted messages. Um, but you also ask about uh crimes against our our uh children. Um we have two uh detectives that do forensic analysis of of computers and digital devices, and uh all too often I would say one time is too much, but uh too often they are looking at instances in which our kids were preyed upon. Um so that is something that happens uh well all too much in in our state and in our community. Um thankfully it's um it's we we don't know it to be a uh an everyday revolving type of incident, but like I said, one incident is is is well too many.
SPEAKER_02And we've seen instances where children sometimes have been um sadly, it's led to children harming themselves, committing suicide because of sextortion, a term that I had never heard about when I was growing up. We never heard of such things. We didn't have social media like we do now. But these are the types of cases. That parents need to bring to the attention of authorities, and parents really need to be proactive in watching what websites their children are visiting and checking their social media websites.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, I would just say, you know, as a as a father of two daughters, um they will not have devices anytime soon. They're eight, nine years old. Um uh and uh they may not have devices at 13 and 14. And when they do it, dad's gonna be checking. And and you know, it's it's that may sound like, well, that's not reality, but you just said something that's really important. Dad is checking. This is us protecting our youth. Uh, there are so many people who want to prey on them, and it is so easy to do when these kids have these devices. So we really encourage parents to be actively involved.
SPEAKER_02And the perpetrators of these crimes, we should make clear, they are not even necessarily in Minnesota. We've had cases from foreign countries where people have committed these types of crimes toward victims here in Minnesota. You're absolutely right. Yeah, very, very interesting, very concerning. Chief, several suburban communities recently have turned toward the use of drones, aerial drones, and also using robots. Um, I'd like you to tell us, if you would, does the Egan Police Department use drones and robots? And if you do, what is the utility of these tools for law enforcement?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Um, we certainly do use drones. Uh, many agencies have been using them for several years to include the Egan Police Department. Um, they really help us be uh uh much more efficient, but they create um uh more safety measures for our community members and our police officers. Um, you know, I'll just use some examples. Uh we respond to uh a missing person, and we can put up a drone to search a very large uh geographical area, um, looking for heat sensors and and and just movement. Um we use them in officer safety for officer safety reasons. Uh certainly don't want to walk our officers in any kind of dangerous situation that we don't need to. Uh, but also, you know, we we um we have canine, uh can a canine unit. And when our canine handlers are out deploying, we can put that drone up ahead so that the dog's gonna follow what it's smelling. And uh, if we can mitigate and a physical apprehension, uh that is a huge uh a huge benefit to all of the community. So we can put these drones up in various uh various ways to be able to uh help us in those situations.
SPEAKER_02Seems like a new tool that's very useful for law enforcement, especially just because aerial drones give you a perspective that you don't get on the ground. Yeah, yep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And what's coming is um, and a lot of communities are moving to it, is something called dronist first responder. Uh we're researching it here in in Egan and want to make sure we're being very thoughtful about it. Uh, and this is just uh this is something that um can be as a call call for service comes in, um, it can be uh launched from uh a pedestal wherever it's stationed at and uh get out to the scene much quicker than we can as uh driving a car. It can give officers uh uh uh real life information about what's going on. Uh say, for example, there's a car accident at uh Yankee Doodle in Mike Collins Drive, and um officers get there and they see, yup, or they can tell, excuse me, the drone gets there first and they can see, yup, there's clearly a crash. Um a car's on fire, right? We can start an ambulance before waiting for an officer to get there, start a fire truck before waiting for an officer to get there. Um also, you know, we maybe get something that's called like a 911 hangup call. The drone can get there and start checking the area. Um, and and really maybe what the drone sees doesn't fit with what the caller reported to the dispatcher. Yep, that that certainly can happen as well. So this is uh this is gonna help us keep our communities much safer into the future. It's gonna allow us to be much more efficient as well. So it's something that we're pretty excited about.
SPEAKER_02Very good. I'd like to touch on uh a few things that residents can do here to continue to keep our community safe. You describe this as a partnership. It's not only effective policing, but it's also citizens see something, say something. If you see something that doesn't look right, call.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, here's what I tell uh people, Steve. Um, you know your neighborhood better than anyone else. Uh you know what cars are normally there, what cars are not there. You know what people are normally there and what people are not. And we're your police department. So something seems off, call us. We want to come out, come out and check it out.
SPEAKER_02We are down to the last minute. I want to give you a moment to say something real quick about safe cam and national night out that's coming up in August.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, I think in the the interest of of uh of time, uh, so we have um we have a safety camp coming up uh where we just engage with our youth. But national night out is one of the most exciting days of the year, and Egan does it so well. I'm so uh proud of the investment.
SPEAKER_02What date is it this year?
SPEAKER_01I should have looked this up. I should know it.
SPEAKER_02It's usually the first week of the August.
SPEAKER_01Right. Um, I should know it too. It's definitely on my calendar. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so um what an opportunity for us to come together, connect with community, hang out with the kids, our future leaders, and talk about what's going on in everyone's neighborhood and make sure we're thinking about safety into the future.
SPEAKER_02It's a great thing. And every year in my complex, the Egan Police Department shows up, and we're always happy to have them. We've reached the end of our time today. Chief Salim Omari, the new chief of the Egan Police Department, thank you for being our guest today on Access to Democracy. Thank you so much, Steve.
SPEAKER_00This program was recorded at Egan High School. The views and opinions expressed on this program are solely those of the producers andor the persons appearing on the program, and do not reflect the views and opinions of ETV or those of District 196 schools.