Edina Historical Society

In the early 1960s, New York Police Department and others throughout the country visited Edina to learn about its revolutionary “random patrol” method.

The idea was to keep criminals guessing by making patrols unpredictable. A spin of a handmade game wheel (see above photo from the May 1962 Village of Edina newsletter)  determined where officers would patrol next. Every 20 minutes or so, a dispatcher would send a squad to a different area of town.

Police officer Kevin Rofidal, unofficial historian for the Edina police department, wrote, "In cooperation with the Indiana University Police Science Institute, Edina was divided into several small districts.  The past incidents of calls and crime were calculated and mathematical values were assigned to these areas.  The values were converted into percentages in relation to the overall crime in Edina.  Four electric roulette wheels were adapted and locations within the small districts were assigned throughout the roulette wheels.  During the shift, a dispatcher would spin the roulette wheel, which would determine where the mostly likely place a crime might occurred based on the formulas and a squad would be sent to that location.  In the beginning, this was done just on the overnight dog shift 2300-0700 and later expanded to all shifts."

Chief Wayne Bennett and other law professionals pointed to the success of statistically random patrols, but the innovative program was one of the few introduced by Bennett that didn’t last.

Bennett was known as an innovator, who brought professionalism and stature to the police department during a rapid period of Edina’s growth.

“We were known nationwide. We had a reputation was number one in innovation in the entire State of Minnesota,” said retired officer Jim Crawford. “You know we are pretty proud of that.”

While many police chiefs during the 1940s and 1950s came to the job without advanced education, Bennett had a law degree and F.B.I. training. He had work experience as a patrolman and lieutenant in Albert Lea and as Assistant Chief of Staff for the MN Department of Civil Defense. In preparation for the opening of the world's first shopping mall, located in what was then a small farming community, the Village Council hired Bennett in 1955 to professionalize the department.

Bennett pioneered the beginning of many programs which are a common place in law enforcement today, such as a police liaison in the schools and a community crime fund. Bennett retired in 1975 after more than 20 years as Edina Chief of Police.

This is Percy Redpath, the city's first full-time paid police officer, hired in 1931.

This is Martha Johnson, long-time volunteer for the Edina Historical Society.

Percy Redpath patrolled the dirt roads of the village as well as the paved streets of the Country Club District, where Martha grew up. The two have never met - except on paper.

For the past several months, Martha has spent her Thursday mornings transcribing Redpath's daily police log, handwritten in diaries for 1931 and 1932. Outside of his family, Martha probably knows more about Redpath than anyone after reading his daily log. I am grateful for her efforts to transform Redpath's jottings, sometimes in very faint pencil scratchings, into a great document for researchers.

Redpath's writings provide a wonderful picture of Edina life during the Depression years. For those who think the "old days" were a simpler time, think again. Even though much of Redpath’s logs documented speeders kicking up the dust at 25 mph or couples “spooning” on country roads, he also dealt with some serious crimes. Here are just a few highlights from the log book:

Friday, Jan. 23, 1931
Description [of] man [who] attacked girl with club 35-40, 5’-8” 180 lbs. Lt. complex[ion]. Short brown sheep lined coat, light cap, 4 day beard

Sunday, Feb. 1, 1931
8:00 p.m. Sedan parked field off 60 St. and France. Couple [in] rear seat. Suggestion of heat. But guy’s trousers buttoned up according to latest regulations.

Saturday, Feb. 7, 1931
10 p.m. – Call to #55 [Minneapolis squad]. Boys on roof of stores, 50th Street and Xerxes throwing snow balls at pedestrians. Was at 50th and France at time of call. Made run, held boys until #55 came.

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1931
8:30 Religious nut – sitting by fresh made fire – just off Hanson Road. Clean and honest face. …(Long hair, beard.) What police would term a lodger. Refused space in C.C. Garage for him, found him a place to sleep. Sent him to U.G  Mission in a.m. [Note: probably Union Gospel Mission in Minneapolis.]

Sunday, Feb. 15, 1931
12:30 (a.m.) Usual run of maids returning to Country Club District.

Friday, Feb. 20, 1931
3:30 (a.m.) Collegiate party treasure hunters in search of #13 green on Golf Course. Told them where #13 was.

Saturday, March 7, 1931
8:45 Radio call – 56 St and Normandale, prowler. At my home – wife thought she saw and heard someone around buildings. Not found.

Monday, March 16, 1931
Radio call – 3121 West 56th St. Horse destroying property. Horse had been annoying for a week and found him eating on H. Bachman’s lawn – above address – signs of damage to lawn. Did not know who owned horse. Found owner – had horse taken home and warned to keep him up.

Sunday, April 26, 1931
10:50 Call to #50 and #55 [Minneapolis squads]. Hold up at 50th and France. … Arrived … just ahead of St. Louis Park Car. Civilians had left in pursuit of stick up car south on Halifax.  … Sheriff’s got the hold-up man in chicken shack. All credit due to pursuers.

Wednesday, May 6, 1931
1:15 a.m. Radio call – 4528 Casco. Some trouble. Visitor thought his car stolen. It had run away. Found and parked it on Bridge St. at 9:30.

Sunday, May 24, 1931
9:30 Radio call… Insane man threatening to shoot. [Went to house and one of the grown sons] had struck his mother and oldest brother on head with heavy bolt or similar object cutting open their heads. Mother must be about 80. Found him hiding amongst the cows in barn. Held at our car until Sheriff’s car arrived.

As a second half of the project, we'd like to research some of the incidents. Wouldn't it be fun to find out what exactly the city regulations were regarding spooning? Apparently, it required a gentleman's trousers to be buttoned up, but what else makes sitting in a car at the side of the road an illicit activity? What does the "usual run of maids" mean? My guess is that the live-in maids in the Country Club District left every Friday and returned late every Sunday night.

If you would like to know more about Redpath, please see the story I wrote for the Spring 2007 membership newsletter. If you'd like to read more of Redpath's log, stop in during regular museum hours.

Thank you to Martha and the Redpath family for helping us make the log books accessible to researchers.

For a year and a half, a tall bank robber who often wore a floppy-brimmed fishing hat broke state records by committing 23 robberies in Minnesota. Dubbed the "Fishing Hat Bandit," John D. Whitrock was arrested in Edina and credit union president Dean Wickstrom helped reel him in.

In return, he received a fishing hat autographed by Whitrock along with a letter that apologized for his "illegal withdrawal."

Wickstrom framed the two items along with the story about the arrest and displayed them for a time at
Real Financial Center, where Wickstrom helped bring the bandit's bank-robbing spree to an end in January 2005.

Wickstrom loaned the display board to the Edina History Museum for our 2007 exhibit about Edina's police and fire history. Visitors commented so much on the "Fishing Hat Bandit" items that we also included them in the next exhibit on Edina's early suburban history.

Here is a copy of the infamous hat. Wickstrom had asked for the real thing, but the FBI told him the hat was "evidence."  The man known for his polite demeanor during his robberies decided to send him an autographed duplicate.

Here's his letter that arrived with the hat.

The loaned display has now been returned to Wickstrom, who will loan it to the Edina Police Department for its City Hall display of artifacts from the city's police history. Police officer Kevin Rofidal, who was instrumental in putting together our exhibit on the police and fire departments, has collected items and stories for the permanent display case at the police station.

For more information on the fishing hat bandit, see these online resources:

• Story by the Edina Sun-Current that talks about Wickstrom's role in the capture.
• Story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune "Fishing Hat Bandit Caught?"

The more things change, the more things stay the same. In the 50-some years since Constable George Weber kept a look out for speeders at 44th and France in the 1950s, police work has changed dramatically. Police now have radar, computers in their squad cars and two-way radios to connect them with dispatch. Two things haven't changed: residents complaining about speeders on their street, and speeders attempting not to get caught.

From our collection, "speed traps" now and then.

2000s:(above) “I was working on West 77th Street between Highway 100 and Parklawn.  Speeds were way up, and I was getting lots of business.  All of a sudden, things really cooled down until a lady pulled over to tell me someone had put up that sign for eastbound traffic near Seagate.” ~Officer Tom Mason

1950s: (left) When the Morningside Village Council urged Constable George Weber to hide behind bushes to catch speeders, he obeyed, even though it went against his usual mode of operation. (The Village's lone police officer preferred negotiation over confrontation.) He tagged one speeder, who then warned other drivers on a megaphone: “Speed trap ahead!” A photo of the scene in the Edina-Morningside Courier showed Weber chuckling behind his hand, enjoying the spectacle as much as the observers were.

A Story from Dispatch
“Oh, I had one guy one night, he called complaining about speed traps and stuff like that.  That’s when they were building the Crosstown.  … The squads used to sit in there and you couldn’t see ‘em because of the barricades, and they’d catch all the traffic going southbound on 100.  So this guy calls, and he was really complaining that he’d been caught and it’s a speed trap and they got to have lighted squads, and all this kind of junk.  Yakety, yak, yak, yakkin’.   …And when I was finally able to get a word in edgewise, I says, “It’s my opinion that the only time you abide by the speed limit is when you see a squad car.” ~ from an oral history with Al Hines, dispatcher 1960s to 1980s

I should have said "three things haven't changed." Edina Police still have a sense of humor.