Governor Walz shares his public safety plan in Moorhead

MOORHEAD, MINN. (KVRR) – Governor Tim Walz discusses the state’s historic $9.3 billion budget surplus at the law enforcement center in Moorhead.

The Walz-Flanagan budget would invest around $300 million over three years to cities, counties and tribes and recruiting officers that represent the diversity of the state.

Local police are grateful for Walz’s presence as they mention issues within police circles like retention and new recruits.

“Nice to have actually just a few minutes to talk with the governor about what our concerns were. He seemed very receptive to them and also said because of the budget surplus they’re also looking at trying to invest some dollars locally to let us tackle some of our local issues and I think it was overall very positive,” Moorhead Police Chief Shannon Monroe said.

Under Walz’s plan, the city of Moorhead would receive more than $760 thousand per year, Dilworth would get around $80,000 a year and Clay County just under $180,000 per year.

Clay County GOP Chair Rodney Johnson shares his distrust of Governor Walz saying “Years of failed policies and anti-police rhetoric caused crime to rise across the state. On the heels of a historic budget surplus, Walz and Democrats only offer another gimmicky, one-time spending spree as inflation hits another record high.”

Police hope some of the ideas discussed will come to fruition sooner than later, as the region looks for help.

“The immediate thing would be is what can do to retain or attract officers? And he brought up some ideas that they’ve been discussing like retention pay or bonus-type pay. Some agencies across the state are doing that sort of thing, but, yeah we have to have something to incentivize people to stay here. And it’s not financial alone, but if you retain some and you ease that burden or workload from the other officers that might cause them to stick around longer,” Monroe said.