Police: Violent Crimes Unit helps target worst offenders

Police Chief Jon Thum has a message for the people he considers among the most dangerous in Sioux Falls.

“If you’re a violent criminal in town, you should know that we’re paying attention to you,” he said.

“And we have the resources and the agility to quickly pivot and deal with those issues.”

Nearly two years ago, Thum began to hone that focus, creating the Violent Crimes Unit that combined the resources of the department’s narcotics crimes and street crimes units.

“I realized that a lot of people we were dealing with were repeat offenders who repeatedly victimized people within our community,” he said. “We wanted to focus on the known entities causing violent issues in our community to make sure they were dealt with appropriately, especially when they had outstanding cases or warrants.”

It’s not a large list — Thum estimates maybe 10 or fewer individuals at any given time — and the objective is clear.

“Our violent offenders should never feel like what they’re doing or engaging in is unnoticed by police,” Thum said. “They should be concerned that we’re keeping track of their activities and their whereabouts.”

Lt. Randall Brink leads a team of eight detectives and a sergeant.

“Intelligence-based investigation” is how he describes much of the day-to-day work, a blend of tech-driven policing and street-level detective work.

“It’s a very nice blend of both,” he said. “The core function of the VCU is to try to take out the most violent criminals that Sioux Falls has to offer. That’s typically the people we’re going after, and that’s people who we’re probably familiar with because of their lengthy criminal history and propensity for violence.”

These are offenders with records that include aggravated assault or robbery, for instance. They may have outstanding warrants or have violated parole.

“It’s hard to put a metric” on how the unit has strengthened policing, he said.

“But I know we have significantly increased … getting people arrested with the flexibility we’ve had to be able to focus attention on people right away and get them off the street. It seems like we’ve been able to close cases quicker across the board.”

After one full year of operation in 2023, the unit helped seize more than 50 firearms and make 89 felony arrests.

“There are more firearms floating around our city, and people are far more willing to use them than they have been in the past,” Thum said.

“As our city and population grows, we have to realize we’re dealing with metro problems. We can look at other metros around the country and see some of the struggles they have and be wise to be prepared for some of those issues.”

The approach is purposefully nimble, Thum added.

“If we have other events that have taken place, a shooting or a violent crime, we may shift to that issue or problem,” he said, adding at that while most Sioux Falls residents are spared the personal impact of violent crime, “for the people victimized, those are very real issues and very real experiences, and we have to maintain our focus on numerous aspects of policing.”

The VCU’s work has resulted in stronger relationships with other law enforcement entities, Brink said.

“A big part of it is the partnerships they’ve helped foster and maintain across the city with all our local agencies and federal partners,” he said. “That’s a huge part of what we do. They rely on us, and we rely on them.”

The relationship was recognized recently by Homeland Security Investigations, which awarded VCU and HSI its Employee of the Year award for the region in 2023.

“I think law enforcement as a whole, we need to make sure we’re always evaluating where we’re at and changing what we need to do to meet the needs of the community,” Brink said. “This team is one of those examples.”

Overall, the VCU has performed “even better” than anticipated, Thum said.

“What we were wanting was the agility to have that unit shift to whatever was needed in the moment, while keeping an eye on global issues and global players,” he said.

“And they showed the ability to take on special assignments and keep a focus on their case files and the different individuals they’re working.”