Tackling theft at Rosedale Center
The Rosedale Crime Reduction Unit celebrates its first year
The Rosedale Crime Reduction Unit—a partnership between Rosedale Center and the Roseville Police Department—is addressing retail crime through a new police substation at the mall. The two dedicated RCRU officers came to the Nov. 10 city council meeting to share about the unit and its successes since its formation in September 2024.
Here's the skinny on what the RCRU is all about.
What is the Rosedale Crime Reduction Unit?
Rosedale Center has contracted with the Roseville Police Department for two full-time, dedicated police officers to form the Rosedale Crime Reduction Unit (RCRU). Their job is to be on site at the mall to help reduce crime and to have a fast response when incidents do occur. They work out of a police substation at the mall and collaborate with the mall security team.
The officers are there to respond to shoplifting calls, but also medical emergencies, fraud, identity theft, and other types of incidents inside the mall or in the parking lot. The officers also frequently help mall guests with directions or anything else they may need that's unrelated to crime or emergencies. They are there to serve the community at Rosedale Center.
Who is paying for this?
The two full-time police officer positions are fully funded by Rosedale Center under a three-year contract. The police substation that was built at Rosedale specifically for their use was also paid for by Rosedale.
How is this different from other retailer contracts with the RPD?
Individual stores can contract with the RPD for on-site police officers to help with security. For example, the Apple Store at Rosedale pays for an officer to be there the entire time the store is open. Walmart and Target contract with the RPD during busy seasons or for specific time periods too. Rosedale also contracts with the RPD for two extra officers on the weekends. But these are shifts that multiple officers rotate into, they aren't permanent positions for a dedicated officer. The difference is that the RCRU is a formal contractual relationship with the same two police officers.
Who are the officers?
The two dedicated RCRU police officers are Officer Dennis Cook and Officer Ryan Pavlak.
Officer Cook was born and raised in Roseville and got started with the police department as a police explorer when he was 14 in 2007. He worked as a police officers in Coon Rapids and Bloomington before joining the Roseville Police Department in 2020 before joining the RCRU in 2024.
Officer Pavlak grew up in Mahtomedi and is a 4th generation police officer. His father was with the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, his grandfather with the Saint Paul Police Department, and his great-grandfather served on the South Saint Paul Police department where he was killed in the line of duty. He told the city council that he'd always wanted to be a police officer and was grateful to have ended up at Roseville.
What does collaboration look like between mall security and the RCRU?
Rosedale (managed by JLL Management) contracts with a separate mall security team in addition to the RCRU. The police officer on duty carries a mall security radio, so they are always in contact with mall security and can assist each other when needed.
"One of my favorite parts of being in the mall is building relationships between the mall and security. Getting everyone on the same page. So that patrol can work hand-in-hand with them. So there’s not a disconnect. Now we have personal relationships with them and things have been a lot smoother working with those teams. It’s been a very good opportunity," Cook said at the Nov. 10 city council meeting.
What's the impact on theft at Rosedale?
Over the past year, the RCRU says there has been a reduction in merchandise loss and an increase in recovered property. Since its formation, shoplifting calls at Rosedale have increased from 304 to 676 since the previous year. That's a 120% increase. The Roseville Police Department attributes this to their ability to respond more quickly to shoplifting incidents and changes in policies and practices in how individual stores respond to shoplifting too.
In the past, stores may have been more likely to count a theft as a loss and not call the police because it took too long for an officer to arrive on site to catch the thief.
"We've had more education and engagement with our officers working there. We're seeing a lot more calls, more trust from different businesses, different retailers that actually feel confident now that something's going to be done," Tom Pitzl RPD Community Relations Specialist told the Roseville Reader.
Now that there's always a dedicated police officer nearby, the potential for stopping shoplifters before they leave the mall is much higher. The RCRU has better communication with mall security now, which has improved response times and strengthened relationships between the RPD, mall security, and stores, Pitzl said.
In 2025, RCRU officers accounted for 29.73% of all arrests citywide, according to the Nov. 10 presentation to city council. This data counts misdemeanor tickets as "arrests."
Lululemon theft ring
Last November, a couple stole 45 items worth around $5,000 from Lululemon at Rosedale Center. Officer Pavlak's quick response and work with the investigation team led to their arrests the next day in Woodbury.
Police found a dozen suitcases in their hotel room with $50,000 worth of Lululemon gear, according to a recent Star Tribune article. They have stolen almost a million dollars of Lululemon merchandise from stores across the country.
This case resulted in the first successful Organized Retail Crime charges in Ramsey County, after the new state law went into effect in 2023.
Mara H. Gottfried
Kansas fragrance theft ring
Another time, a group attempted a brazen mid-day grab and run of fragrance testers at Rosedale. They came in with garbage bags and grabbed the bottles of perfume and cologne right off the wall.
"A couple quick foot chases later, we had two in custody for that one. Both had warrants from multiple different states, because this is what they do. They rent their cars, go across the country stealing fragrances, and go back to Kansas where they sell them," Cook said at the Nov. 10 city council meeting.
They would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for the staff knowing they could call the RCRU officer directly and for them being able to respond right away, Cook said.
Watch the Presentation
You can watch the full Nov. 10 city council meeting presentation to hear from the Rosedale Crime Reduction Unit directly.
After the RCRU presentation, there's a presentation about the RPD's role with Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Violent Crime Reduction Unit (VCRU), which was established in 2022 to combat an increase in violent crime in the state. It's a multi-agency group led by the BCA. Roseville has a dedicated police officer on this VCRU that is funded by the BCA.
