At his retirement event today, Chief Matt Sackett presented the Career Achievement Award to Det. Staaf. Here is an excerpt from the award:

“Det. Carter Staaf began working for the EPPD as an officer in 2000 and soon after joined the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), which is now called the SWAT team. During his tenure Det. Staaf also served as a Use of Force instructor, Field Training Officer, sergeant, member of the Mobile Field Force and detective.

During the past 11 years Det. Staaf has worked in the Investigations Division with a primary focus on street crimes and human trafficking. He developed Eden Prairie’s human trafficking program from scratch and was one of the first people to focus on the victims of trafficking rather than the traffickers.

In 2016, he helped form the I-494 Corridor Group which is a consortium of cities along I-494 who work together on sting operations that focus on arresting traffickers and providing support to victims. Since its inception, this group has conducted 38 sting operations. In addition, Det. Staaf has been a big supporter of, and speaker at, the Stop the Trafficking Run in Eden Prairie. He has worked with individuals and non-profit organizations to collect clothing and toiletries for women who are victims of human trafficking to create victim response bags and has done dozens of public speaking engagements on human trafficking to raise awareness for its victims.

In his career, Det. Staaf collectively spent 21 years as a member of the ERU and SWAT teams. He served as team lead, assistant team lead and robotics expert. He was instrumental in getting the ICOR robotics program started with the Eden Prairie SWAT team which allows robots to enter dangerous situations instead of people or police K-9s. He learned how to operate the robots then trained other SWAT members to do the same.

Det. Staaf worked on and solved countless crimes during his tenure. He completed a six-year investigation into a $15-million fraud scheme was instrumental in arresting two suspects in a 2014 violent assault case, and played key roles in national sex trafficking investigations in Richfield and Minnetonka.

Throughout his career Det. Staaf also served as a huge proponent and participant in Special Olympics activities including coordinating the department’s participation in the Polar Plunge for 18 years. His commitment to serve extended to organizing the department’s Toys for Tots drive and standing guard at the LEMA Memorial for 10 years.”

Det. Staaf’s investigative skills, compassion for others and deep commitment to service will be greatly missed in the department.

We wish him all the best in retirement!