Challenges and Opportunities

Community Trust and Transparency

In today’s world of media and information overload it’s important that you as taxpayers and residents of Dakota County know what your Sheriff’s Office does. It’s easy to become misinformed and confused with the amount of information swirling in social media.

Sheriff Leko builds community trust through transparency providing agency data and information.

To build and maintain trust with our community, we must be transparent—opening our doors and sharing meaningful data and information about how we serve you.

Our public-facing website features a dedicated Transparency Page where you can see how your tax dollars are being used and access important information about our operations. We have also launched the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office mobile app, putting key information at your fingertips.

Through these platforms, we provide access to our policies and programs, jail demographics, use-of-force data, calls for service, crime trends, and real-time reporting on drug overdoses across the county.

I also invite you to explore our podcast, “Raising the Bar,” available on YouTube or under the Media tab on this site, where we highlight the work of our staff and discuss important public safety topics.

Transparency strengthens accountability—and together, it helps us build a safer, more informed community.

You deserve to know what your law enforcement agency is doing—and how well it’s doing it.

As your Sheriff, I’m committed to making sure you do.

Illegal Drugs

The infiltration of illegal drugs in our communities continue to have a profound impact on overall crime and public health in Dakota County. For nearly seven years, I had the opportunity to work drug investigations and now as Sheriff, I am a member of the North Central High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Executive Board – a partnership with local, state, and federal agencies across Minnesota and Wisconsin to investigate and dismantle high level drug organizations. We are seizing record amounts of highly addictive and deadly fentanyl across the Twin Cities metro. The impact is an increasing number of people becoming addicted and widespread overdoses across the state. Enforcement alone will not solve our attraction to drugs. We need a holistic approach to reduce the impact of illegal drugs including education, prevention, enforcement, and rehabilitation.

Sheriff Leko brings extensive knowledge, and experience in the education, prevention, and enforcement of illegal drugs in the community.

As your Sheriff, I bring extensive knowledge, and experience in this area and will work collaboratively and aggressively to address the impact of drugs in our community. This threat continues to be a high priority of mine and this Office.

Mental Health Response and Inmate Care

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 1 in 5 adults in the United States experienced a mental illness in 2020. As a community, we must work together to strengthen our approach to mental health and improve how we respond.

Data from Mental Health America (MHA) indicates that approximately 10% of all police contacts involve individuals experiencing some level of mental illness. In these situations, success depends not just on the tools on a duty belt, but on the ability to communicate, de-escalate, and connect people to the right resources. First responders must be equipped with the training and skills necessary to reduce risk and increase the likelihood of safe outcomes.

In 2018, I played a key role in the lobbying, planning, design, and grand opening of the Safety and Mental Health Alternative Response Training (SMART) Center in Inver Grove Heights. This one-of-a-kind facility provides crisis intervention training for first responders from across Minnesota.

Sheriff Leko has proven to be one of the most innovative leaders in the profession. His vision, lobbying, planning, designing, and opening of the SMART Center and the Jail Integrative Health Unit serve as models for others to follow.

Crisis-intervention training is one critical component of a broader, strategic approach to improving outcomes in mental health crisis calls. Equally important is our collaboration with social workers—partnering alongside law enforcement during initial responses and in follow-up efforts to connect individuals with the resources and support they need.

According to Mental Health America (MHA), 14.5% of men and 31% of women in pre-trial detention—who make up the majority of individuals in our county jails—are living with a serious mental illness. This reality underscores the need to continually evaluate and strengthen how we care for those in custody. Individuals facing mental health challenges require specialized care in an environment that is safe, supportive, and focused on recovery.

On April 10, 2025, we opened a cutting-edge addition to our jail: a 26-bed Integrative Health Unit designed to meet the needs of individuals in custody experiencing mental health conditions, substance use disorders, or physical limitations. This unit represents a significant advancement in how we deliver care and is the first of its kind in a Minnesota jail.

Technology

Advancements in technology can make our jobs in law enforcement safer, more efficient, and effective. Drones, body-worn cameras, 3D crime scene cameras, a jail body scanner, and License Plate Readers are some of the most recent technologies we brought to the Sheriff’s Office that have improved our ability to serve the community.

Sheriff Leko pioneers cutting edge technology improving efficiencies in operations and keeping the community and deputies safe.

We continue to expand our body-worn cameras throughout the Office since first implemented in 2020. After being awarded a 2022 federal grant for $170,000 we added nearly 80 additional body-worn-cameras beyond our patrol division to deputies in courts, investigations, civil, jail and our park rangers.

Our Sheriff’s Office was the first in the County to utilize drones for documenting crime and accident scenes and searching for lost individuals and fleeing suspects. Drones not only assist in searching for missing persons or suspects, they protect first responders by creating distance and opportunities to safely apprehend persons.

As your Sheriff, I evaluate and when appropriate, utilize cutting edge technology to keep you and our deputies safe while improving efficiencies in our operations.

Employee Wellness

Under my leadership, employee wellness has become a top priority. Our effectiveness as an organization depends on the health and well-being of our staff. We look out for one another and recognize the unique stressors this profession places on the mind, body, and spirit—not only for our employees, but for their families as well.

We are committed to bringing awareness to these challenges, reducing stigma, and providing meaningful support. By investing in the overall wellness of our people, we strengthen our team, our service, and the communities we are honored to protect.

Sheriff Leko espouses a culture where staff openly discuss the impact of trauma and are provided resources and support so that they are physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy.

In 2020, we implemented an early warning system to track when deputies are exposed to traumatic events. This system ensures timely follow-up by peer support members and supervisors, helping us identify when additional care and intervention may be needed.

We have also built a comprehensive employee wellness program that includes a dedicated peer support team. In 2021, we took another important step by introducing mandatory annual wellness visits with a clinical psychologist—reinforcing our commitment to both mental and emotional health.

In 2024, we expanded our efforts further by adding comprehensive cardiovascular testing to help ensure our staff remain healthy—both on the job and at home.