JUST THE FACTS

August 1st, 2025 Volume 16 Issue 34

THIS WEEK'S IN CUSTODY ARRESTS

Scott Pfeifer was formally charged with Harassment Restraining Order violation.

Josue Gutierrez was formally charged with DWI.

Juvenile Arrest Halts a Crime Spree

Late last week, a 13-year-old Owatonna kid was apprehended by OPD when police were investigating a stolen vehicle and multiple theft and vehicle tampering cases. The case broke when police found an abandoned stolen vehicle at Forest Hills Cemetery. The vehicle had been recently stolen and unbeknown to the vehicle owner. Inside police found property from three previous thefts from motor vehicles. The car was left at the cemetery at the owner’s request until the owner could find a spare key. The car was gone when the owner came back for it hours later. Using a tracking device on the car, police obtained surveillance videos from local businesses to develop leads on a possible suspect. In short order, the great work by OPD had the juvenile identified and in-custody. The juvenile faces a petition for motor vehicle theft, tampering with a motor vehicle and driving without a license.

Owatonna Police Department adds new surveillance technology in City

On April 1st, OPD signed an agreement with Flock Safety to add fixed location Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR) to public utility infrastructure.

Flock Safety is a public safety technology company based in Atlanta, GA that provides surveillance technology to public and private sectors. They specialize in ALPR’s, gunshot detectors, and real-time video cameras. Their mission is to help communities, law enforcement fight crime and enhance public safety through the use of technology.

Flock ALPR send real-time alerts to the emergency communication center for any alert listed in the state and national databases. Examples are stolen vehicles, vehicles associated with missing, endangered and wanted persons. Flock also uses its data to help law enforcement solve crimes by providing objective evidence, such as vehicle descriptions, without a known registration number, that has proven to reduce crime rates in some areas. ALPR’s serve as a force multiplier to signal law enforcement personnel to respond to camera specific locations when a license plate alert is received. Flock also allows agencies to create custom “Hot Lists” to locate vehicles associated with local crimes when instances are not entered into the state or national database. In additional Flock agencies throughout the state and country can also share data to help solve crime from their own or by assisting other jurisdictions. Currently, there are 53 Flock agencies in Minnesota and over 5,000 communities nationwide are covered.

Flock cameras are not traffic cameras. No private data on individuals is collected or accessible in the Flock database. Data is protected and stored in the cloud for 30 days.

During the past two weeks, Flock has been installing ALPR’s at pre-determined locations in the city but they are not live or used yet by OPD.

OPD’s Flock ALPR’s are solar-powered and affixed at key ingress routes around Owatonna. The locations are as follows:

Cedar Ave South at 22nd Street
Hoffman Drive west of I-35
Hoffman Drive east of I-35
West Bridge Street at I-35
26th Street at County Road 45 North
Bixby Road at 18th Street SE
Cedar Ave North at 24th Street
46th Street at I-35

Superhero Camp

The Owatonna Police Department participated in Superhero Camp at Mathey Park where they handed out police badge stickers and showed the kids their police equipment.