SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Safe South Dakota is a way for departments around the state to work together to improve community safety.

“Started to witness some trends that were going on and a lot of it had to do with some of the spikes in violence we had witnessed here in our community and we noticed that our partners in Sioux Falls were witnessing a similar trend.” Rapid City Chief of Police Don Hedrick said.

This collaborative approach, called Safe South Dakota, is what’s making South Dakota cities safer. The communities of Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Pierre are doing this. They’re also want to reach out to some of the smaller communities to start working together as well to continue this success.

Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller and Hedrick have a good relationship and noticed that working with other communities can bridge the gaps.

“This collaboration is really taking that group effort that we might have between sheriffs or between chiefs of police to a little bit higher level by including some other elected officials and other public safety personnel across the state,” Mueller said.

Safe South Dakota has seen success with this process already.

“I think we’re in a good sport where we’ve been able to tighten up some of those gaps. So if we have somebody that is out committing crimes, as opposed to remaining in our community we’re getting them back into custody,” Hedrick said.

These departments are now looking into improving efficiency.

“We’ve got to continue to work together, continue to communicate together. Talk about what’s working in each jurisdiction, talk about things that we think we can improve on and then get the right people around the table to resolve those issues to move it forward,” Mueller said.