Newly appointed Fargo Police Chief speaks on Angela Lipps, downtown safety, and perception of the department

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — “The current priority of both internally and externally is just taking the opportunity to listen to everybody and their concerns, because each neighborhood and each work group is going to have different priorities and different concerns,” said Travis Stefonowicz, Fargo Police Chief.

In the last year, concerns have been brought up against the Fargo Police Department in regards to their handling of the case of Angela Lipps. Lipps was arrested with the use of a facial recognition tool and held in jail for several months before the department knew.

“A lot of that was down to information. And what information was available at that time. So let me just ask for everybody to be patient. And wait for all the information to come out before they pass judgement. But each day, each day that goes by, we’re going to take an opportunity to earn the community’s trust,” said Stefonowicz.

A local attorney has been hired to represent Lipps, and an investigation into the case is still ongoing.

While in a most recent debate, several mayoral candidates have stated downtown is not safe. While crime has been reported to have gone down, the perception of safety has not changed.

“It’ll take working with our media partners and sharing the message and showing what we’re doing on a daily basis because I don’t think everybody truly understands or knows all the things that we’re doing with our business partners and the downtown community to work on that perception,” said Stefonowicz.

During Stefonowicz’s last interview, he said he will also be having conversations with local sheriffs and police chiefs once a month.

“We’re going to continue to work with our law enforcement partners to make sure that everybody has the information that they need at the time that they need it. We’re all committed to that,” said Stefonowicz.

Stefonowicz joined the Fargo Police Department in May 2002 and was promoted to Assistant Chief in July 2021.