Minot PD Understaffed - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Minot PD Understaffed

Nationaly North Dakota is the bulls eye for economic prosperity.
But the high paying jobs and cost of living is not only taking a toll on many businesses workforce but law enforcement as well.
The Minot Police Department has struggled the last couple of years to get enough officers to patrol our streets but to keep them here.
Alysia Huck has more on a growing problem in our growing community.
While the economy and population in western North Dakota is booming, so too is crime.
But handling the crime, traffic violations and everything in between is becoming more difficult in the Magic City due to a shortage in manpower.

(Jason Olson - Minot Chief of Police) "we're actually about 10% below what budgeted staffing is in terms of officers on street."

When any entity is undermanned, certain aspects of the business suffer, and that's a cause for concern when it comes to a police department and keeping our streets safe.

(Jason Olson - Minot Chief of Police)  "But our traffic enforcement has suffered because of the business we have on the streets...peak times at night, response time getting to our calls is getting delayed.

Due to lower pay, fewer benefits, a housing shortage and the cost of living, the Minot PD has experienced a large turnover the last couple of years. And not only are they understaffed, but the number of new, inexperienced officers far outnumbers the seasoned officers. And although they look for quality, nothing can take the place of experience...

(Jason Olson - Minot Chief of Police)  "With inexperience of officers it just takes that time for them to get a feel for the job and just to gain experience with all the different types of situations that we handle."

And although they may be in the process of hiring more officers, the turn around time to get those officers on the street needs to be factored in...

(Jason Olson - Minot Chief of Police)  "it's typically 6 months from the time we hire them until the time they count as an officer on the street and can vary depending on prior experience or previous law enforcement academy training."

Everything from the high turn around to a lack of seasoned officers is a cause for concern for the department.

(Jason Olson - Minot Chief of Police)  "We are very concerned about it. It's not very efficient for us to train an officer who then goes to work for another department. Most of the people that come to work for us want to be police officers somewhere, and we just need to make this a destination where they want to stay and spend their career as opposed to seeing a better opportunity elsewhere. They are basically looking for a place where they can have a career and own a house and live the American dream like everybody else wants to."

In Minot, Alysia Huck, KX News.
The Minot Police Department hopes to find a solution to the problem through a pay study, in order to offer better pay and benefits to their officers as an incentive to keep them here in the Magic City.