Year-end crime on par with previous years, Kull said

Brandon police have issued more traffic tickets in 2018 than in previous years, but officers continue to hand out more warnings than citations.

Through Nov. 30, the department issued 1,014 traffic tickets, compared to 764 in 2017 and 835 in 2016. Police handed out 1,048 written warnings, compared to 1,410 in 2017 and 1,343 in 2016. 

“We write more warnings than citations,” said Brandon Police Chief Dave Kull. “The goal is to gain compliance.”

In the first 11 months of 2018, police made 56 DWI arrests, which Kull expects to climb to 60 to 65 by the end of the year.  

Reports of narcotics and drugs are on par with previous years, with one change. 

“It seems to me we’re seeing more of a marijuana issue, especially among juveniles. That’s always concerning,” Kull said.

Motor vehicle accidents are down in 2018. Brandon police responded to 141 non-injury accidents through Nov. 30, compared to the city average of 180 per year and a high of 206 in 2017.

The department’s most high-profile incidence of crime in the past 12 months was the Dec. 27, 2017, arrest of Artis Kattenberg. 

Kattenberg appeared in Minnehaha County Court Jan. 5 on charges of felony child abuse after police found 80 guns and 16, five-gallon buckets of ammunition in the basement of her home in the 1400 block of S. Lakota Ave. 

Brandon police worked with the FBI, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) and Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office to obtain the search warrant, which also turned up tactical ballistic vests, high-end scopes, a stockpile of food and water and, among the firearms, three .50-caliber semi-automatic rifles.

“Probably the bigger, highlight case was the Kattenberg case, with all the guns,” Kull said.

Kattenberg’s teenaged son was also taken into custody.  

However, 2018 has been relatively quiet for the Brandon Police Department.

Through Nov. 30, officers took 68 reports of vandalism, 52 vehicle thefts, 14 sex offenses, 81 juvenile delinquencies, 200 parking violations and 10 runaways.

“It was a pretty typical year for numbers,” Kull said.