Local law enforcement on changes in policing and crime trends in the metro area

MOORHEAD, Minn. (KVRR) – The top police chiefs in the metro area gathered in Moorhead to share current trends in crime and policing in the region. From Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski to Clay County Sheriff Mark Empting, some of the biggest trends revolved around mental health issues in the community to the importance of mutual aid between law enforcement on either side of the Red River.

Retention is one of those big issues in agencies across both states.

“284 agencies looking for officers. A lot of those agencies are looking for more than two officers. A lot of them are looking for multiple. If you think about that, that’s over 70% of the agencies across the state of Minnesota who are currently short staffed.” said Sheriff Empting.

While most of the departments said certain crime numbers have dropped from last year, places like West Fargo dealt with an increase.

“That always happens when you have population growth such as we have. We’re definitely going to look at those areas. Look at what we have that are the concerns and try to figure out some strategical planning on how we can try and make sure those numbers go back down.” said West Fargo Police Chief Pete Nielsen.

When it comes to the topic regarding mental health calls in the region, this isn’t the first time Chief Zibolski mentioned the state stepping in to provide a space for those struggling.

“The issue is that we’ve got a huge gap in mental health,” said Chief Zibolski. “We have a lot of front-end services but we don’t have any residential treatment facilities for longer term care. So for people that are in a chronic situation, continually going for an evaluation and they walk right back out and they right back in the same environment they were in without getting any treatment that they need.”

As they said, one of the biggest takeaways is the issues revolving around mental health.