Eden Prairie announces new ‘Neighborhood Police Officers’ program

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Eden Prairie Police Department has announced it will implement a new Neighborhood Police Officers (NPO) program in its communities in an effort to further foster communication, and hopefully curb crime.

The NPO program will "help officers and residents get to know each other, and to make it easier to work together and solve neighborhood issues," according to an announcement from the police department. As part of the program, "the department has assigned officers to specific neighborhoods throughout Eden Prairie," according to the release. 

Eden Prairie police believe the targeted officers will serve as primary contacts for community groups, neighborhood associations, businesses and residents within their assigned neighborhood to report ongoing issues and concerns. The program is intended to complement emergency response, filing a police report, or other routine calls for service, not supplement them.

FOX 9 has reached out for further information regarding how many officers will be assigned to the program, and where the extra patrols will be targeted.

In April, the police department announced the implementation of 13 portable Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) in areas of the city where vehicle theft was high. The devices have cameras inside that can take pictures of license plates in real-time and scan them through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's list of stolen vehicles. If it is a stolen vehicle, the ALPR alerts officers of the match,

The new tool has helped find eight stolen vehicles since December 2021, the department said at the time of the announcement.