SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The South Dakota Department of Public Safety now says 78 people faced drug charges, with 51 booked into jail, in the recent “Operation: Prairie Thunder” saturation patrol which took place in the Sioux Falls area. The state had previously reported far more arrests.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden had clarified Monday in an interview with KELOLAND News that the three-day patrol led to 174 drug charges.
“The issue arose on what that number represented,” Rhoden said. “It’s not 174 individuals. It was the total number of charges.”
In an email to KELOLAND News Tuesday, the Department of Public Safety confirmed that 51 people were booked into jail for drugs during the saturation patrol along with 27 people ticketed for drugs and released. There were also arrests for non-drug related crimes.
Rhoden said Sept. 2 in an interview with KELOLAND News that there were 174 drug arrests during the patrol; Tuesday’s DPS email says the department had reported 174 such arrests to the governor. “Historically,” the email states, the state’s Highway Patrol “records each individual charge as an arrest.” The department also apologized “for the confusion regarding the statistical reporting” and pledged to change in the future. It says that going forward, there will be numbers “which accurately reflect the number of unique individuals arrested in addition to the number of total charges filed.”
Rhoden in his Monday interview said that he considers the recent saturation patrol to be “a significant success.” Per the governor’s office, additional patrols in the Sioux Falls area are planned for the coming months.
