Marshall Police Chief Mike Donnell gave an update on how his department is handling suspected nuisance violations during the city council meeting on Monday, November 5.
Donnell said the supreme-court ruling in May has tied the hands of the department to a degree. He said the supreme court ruled that they cannot step foot on somebody’s property for something that’s a criminal matter without a search warrant through the municipal courts. He said they are handling nuisances in two different ways.

Donnell said they are locating the nuisances, taking pictures and entering them into the department’s computer system. At that point, they take a list to City Inspector Mike Morgan’s office. Morgan then sends a letter out to the property owner, then Morgan’s office notifies the police department the letter has been sent. It is entered into the P.D.’s system that a 10-day letter has been sent out. The department will be alerted after the 10-day period has passed. “If that property is something we can see, we take additional pictures of it, and write a ticket at that point in time.”
Donnell said this is a time-consuming process. He said if 20 properties are located, and this process is carried out, it could be two to three days before the letters are sent out.

Donnell said this is the best solution his department has at this time. “This process, we’re being able to get the tickets, but some of the things we’re dealing with, we just physically don’t have the authority. We can’t enter the property and then write a ticket because we’re violating (the law) on that aspect.”