Pulse of Crime Panel Discussion

Each police chief in attendance said that overall crime statistics were down, but calls for service continued to increase.

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – The FMWF Chamber gathered industry leaders at Microsoft Commons this year for The Pulse of Crime: Safety, Perception and Business Impact panel discussion.

Present were two familiar faces – Chiefs David Zibolski and Peter Nielsen of the Fargo and West Fargo Police Departments, respectively; plus, the newest attendee of the party – recently hired Chief of the Moorhead Police Department, Chris Helmick.

“It’s definitely been an adjustment,” he said with a laugh. “I’m used to working kind of behind the scenes and not being the public face of the department.”

All three agencies had some similar concerns to discuss.

Each reported a drop in every major crime statistic from 2023 to 2024. Property crimes, assaults, domestic violence incidents – you name it.

Where the tide continues to rise is in calls for service.

Chief Zibolski says these are primarily in relation to mental health crises and responding to so many can be a real drain on the officers.

“When I talk about 3500 calls for service in 2024, there’s like 15 or 20 people that account for a significant portion of that,” he explained.

“A lot of times it’s those same cops engaging with those people. And that is very hard on their psyche.”

At least Fargo and West Fargo are considered fully staffed.

Moorhead has a good number of positions they’re still looking to fill.

“With the staffing the way it is, sometimes the officers aren’t able to be as proactive as they’d like to be,” said Helmick.

However, after just a month on the job, he’s confident the department has the capabilities to get the job done in the meantime while looking towards greater growth in the future.