Dave Zibolski is sworn in as Fargo police chief

After his swearing-in ceremony at the City Commission meeting, Zibolski becomes the 37th police chief of Fargo.

FARGO, N.D. — A new era begins in the Fargo Police Department.

“The future of Fargo is extremely bright and promising. I am extremely honored to have been chosen to lead this department and serve this community,” said the city’s new police chief David Zibolski.

Zibolski was sworn in at the city commission meeting.

He takes over a department where he believes there is potential to see change.

That change includes looking at staffing.

“There are potential scheduling changes I think that will help not only the work-life balance for the officers, but also providing for us an opportunity to train department members on a regular basis,” said Zibolski.

Zibolski also made it a promise during the interview process that officers would start using body cameras. He says the department is expected to see demonstrations from four vendors in the next couple of months to choose the best equipment to make that happen.

“We should have something in the field by late spring/early summer next year at least in a pilot sense,” revealed Zibolski. “There is a number of things that are somewhat time consuming, but I think we are already off to a pretty quick start on getting it up and running.”

Zibolski commended former police chief David Todd for his work in community policing, but says he plans to expand that role even further.

“What that really involves is creating an environment where the officers are not going from call to call, where they are actually have time during their shifts to have proactive law enforcement contact with the public,” said Zibolski. “We will really be promoting that as one of our keystone initiatives.”

The new chief also plans to make good on his promise of meeting with leaders of Black Lives Matter and OneFargo to address the racial tensions plaguing the community.