Shakopee Earns City Of Excellence Honors

Press release from the City of Shakopee:

August 18, 2020

The League of Minnesota Cities recently selected the City of Shakopee as one of five winning cities for 2020 City of Excellence honors. The awards recognize cities for outstanding programs or projects.

The city received the City of Excellence award for cities with a population of 20,000 or larger. Shakopee was recognized for its fraudulent gift card reduction program.

Through collaborations with local businesses, the Shakopee Police Department adopted a first-in-the-nation ordinance requiring retail establishments to verify identification at the point of sale to deter criminal behavior. The gift card ordinance requires customers to show proper identification before using a credit card to buy third party gift cards from American Express, Mastercard or Visa, unless they’re paying with cash or a check. Also, purchases made at the self-service checkouts will no longer be allowed.

The ordinance was intended to reduce the fraudulent purchasing of third-party gift cards at retail establishments. Third-party gift cards are often purchased by individuals using cloned or stolen financial transaction cards, counterfeit checks or other fraudulent means. These incidents affect numerous victims and require considerable law enforcement resources to investigate.

Additional city award winners included:

• City of Wells – Citywide LED Conversion, population under 5,000
• City of Hopkins – Sound Off Fire Safety Program, population 5,000 to 19,999
• City of Eagan, Fire Department Staffing and Coverage
• City of Mankato, Fire Department Staffing and Coverage

Each winning city will receive a plaque, a check for $1,000 and recognition in League publications and promotional activities throughout the coming year.

This press release was produced by the City of Shakopee. The views expressed here are the author’s own.