Olmsted County Sees Drop in DWI’s, Fentanyl Dose Seizures in 2025

Olmsted County Sheriff's Office Releases Annual Report for 2025

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- Authorities in southeastern Minnesota increased the amount of doses of cocaine seized last year. 

See Also: Twin Cities Man Sentenced in Rochester Drug Trafficking Case 

That’s according to the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office annual report, which was released earlier this week. The report also includes a drop in seizures involving other drugs.

Along with drug activity, the annual report also includes information about use-of-force incidents and DWI’s. 

Southeast MN Violent Crime Enforcement Team Sees Drop in Fentanyl & Meth Seizures

The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office is one of multiple agencies involved in the Southeast Minnesota Violent Crime Enforcement Team. 

Agents from the investigative unit, which covers six cities and eight counties in southeast Minnesota, seized 20,488 doses of cocaine last year. That’s up from 13,712 doses seized in 2024 and 5,722 doses seized in 2023. 

Methamphetamine doses seized by the team dropped from 533,173 in 2024 to 150,347 last year. In 2023, investigators seized 307,072 doses of meth, according to the report. 

Fentanyl dose seizures dropped for the second straight year in 2025. Investigators seized 216,536 doses last year, which is over 100,000 less doses than the 316,913 seized in 2024 and slightly over half of the 424,577 doses seized in 2023. 

DWI Arrests in Olmsted County Dropped in 2025

The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office also reported a drop in DWI arrests last year. Deputies made 106 DWI or criminal vehicular operation arrests in 2025. 102 of those arrests were for DWI. 

In 2024, the sheriff’s office reported 197 DWI/CVO arrests, which was an increase from the 138 reported in 2023. 

After spiking from 18 in 2023 to 60 in 2024, drug DWI arrests fell to 17 last year. Drug and alcohol combo DWI’s also fell from 14 in 2024 to four in 2025. 

63 of More Than 33,000 Calls for Service Described as Use-of-Force

The sheriff’s office reported an increase in use-of-force incidents for the third straight year. 

State law defines use of force as “the reasonable display and/or use of a weapon system or use of physical force to affect an arrest of a person.” 

63 Of the 33,779 calls for service last year are described as use-of-force calls. 

39 of those use of force incidents involved a deputy displaying a service weapon, 20 included the use of body control or striking techniques and four involved the use of pepper ball rounds, leaving the total incidents in which force was used at 24. 

The sheriff’s office says that is a decrease from 34 incidents reported last year. The full report is available here.