...the days are gone where officers "took care" of one another in such situations.

"The law applies equally to everybody, and it should be that way," Bellows said.

The Lakeville officer should be commended for his action.

It's sad that doing the right thing is unusual enough to be noticed.

I wonder if the incident is going be noted so openly in the department's weekly newsletter, Breezes (see links halfway down).

DUMB CRIMINAL
Officers Jai Hanson and Mike Lamm were dispatched to check a cemetery on a report of juveniles possibly damaging property late one night this week. On their arrival, the officers located four young adults who initially claimed to be visiting a loved ones’ grave site. It was later determined that the real reason they were there was to smash a guitar on a large rock at the cemetery entrance. The group was involved in a scavenger hunt and one of the tasks was to smash a guitar.

During the course of interviewing the subjects, the officers found that two of the four had outstanding arrest warrants. So Officers Hanson and Lamm arrested and jailed one individual on a minor consumption arrest warrant and the other on a shoplifting arrest warrant. The officers also found a list of bizarre tasks for the scavenger hunt with points awarded for each task Completed.

Interestingly, the officers noted that getting arrested by the police was on the scavenger list with a high point value.

.... He said that when the officer realized the driver was a co-worker who might be intoxicated, he called for Dakota County sheriff's deputies to avoid any conflict of interest.