A look at the Law Enforcement Log

Each week the Cook County Sheriff’s Office provides a brief report of calls made to the Cook County Law Enforcement Center in the past week. This week’s report provides details logged by law enforcement dispatchers from Tuesday, January 29 to Monday, February 4.

WTIP Community Radio asked for more details on a number of calls, such as a report of lost snowmobilers in the Ward Lake Road area just after 3 p.m. on February 2. Before a search for the missing people was launched, they reached their destination.

There were a couple of hit and run reports, the first on January 30 in Tofte. The suspected driver was located and denied the incident. The Sheriff’s Office said the parties will work it out themselves.

A car parked on West Fifth Street in Grand Marais was also involved in a hit and run, resulting in a damaged driver’s side mirror and cracked windshield. There are no suspects in the incident.

There was a report of a minor collision at Benny’s Collision in Grand Marais on January 31, a vehicle backed into a garbage truck.

A traffic complaint was reported on January 31 with a motorist stating that someone almost backed into them on First Avenue in Grand Marais. There were no charges.

A fight was reported in Grand Marais on February 1. The incident was reported by Cook County High School and no further information is available, as it involved juveniles.

There was an arrest for a domestic disturbance in Tofte on January 30.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Minnesota State Patrol with an arrest and dog placement in the pound on February 2.

Sheriff deputies offered assistance to the public in a number of other ways, such as intervening in a neighbor dispute about pets; giving an individual a ride home and checking on a streetlight that was out.

There were a number of animal disturbance calls, including a caller from Railroad Drive in Lutsen concerned about a pack of wolves close to a residence. There was a complaint of feral cats on the Store Road in Grand Portage and also an injured deer on February 3. There were three reports of missing pets.

Sheriff deputies were asked to check a number of roadway hazards. They removed garbage from a road on January 29 and cleared two trees off of Highway 61 on January 30. Deputies also checked an icy intersection in Grand Marais on February 1 and icy road conditions at Cutface Creek and Ski Hill Road on February 2.

There were reports of a vehicle in the ditch on February 1 and February 2.

This week’s report included three car/deer crashes on Highway 61.

A cash card found on Wisconsin Street in Grand Marais was turned in to the law enforcement center. The Sheriff’s Office contacted the cardholder’s bank.

At 11:55 a.m. on February 3, there was a call from a party concerned about people walking on the ice on the east bay of Grand Marais.

For the reporting period, there were 13 crank or misdialed calls to 9-1-1, a number of those calls came from Lutsen Mountains Ski Area.
There were seven traffic stops, with five warnings and two tickets.

The Cook County Sheriff Office also participated in “Operation Stone Garden” patrol, a joint operation with the U.S. Border Patrol. Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Valerie Marasco explained that Operation Stone Garden (OPSG) is to help assure “operational readiness of law enforcement along U.S. land borders.”

Marasco said, “OPSG provides funding to designated localities to enhance coordination between law enforcement agencies in their joint mission to secure the nation's land borders. CCSO participates in OPSG by patrolling the northern border and areas with nexus to the northern border by utilizing squads, snowmobiles, watercraft, and foot patrol.”