Increased Crime Calls for an Increase in Law Enforcement

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The increase of crime in the metro has law enforcement looking to *up* their number of patrol officers.
 
Fargo and Moorhead police are taking action to address the growing need.
KVRR’s Brittany Ford joins us live in the studio with more.
Brittany?
 
Alison and TJ, Fargo Police have started the process for recruiting more officers, although they expressed that budget approval and the hiring process is going to take time.

Fargo police is asking the city to approve a budget for six more patrol officer positions.

Interim Police Chief David Todd submitted the department’s proposed budget on Monday.

Fargo Police say the lack of officers will eventually affect response times.
 
“Personnel to keep up with those calls for service, and you can imagine if you get in accident at an intersection and you have to wait for an hour and a half for that officer to arrive…that’s how it affects our services to the community,” said Police Chief David Todd.
 
There has been a significant rise in the amount of service calls that Fargo police and Moorhead police have reported, which is resulting in the need for more officers.
 
Lt. Tory Jacobson of Moorhead Police shared 2015 statistics that show the amount of service calls have increased.

He also stressed that the type of calls that they are receiving require more than one officer.
 
“Calls for service are another very important part that is the disturbances have increased, the search warrants have increased, as well as a lot of the mental health type of calls. These examples are the type of calls that require multiple officers.,” says Lt. Tory Jacobson.
 
The Moorhead Police Department has not submitted an official budget or number of officers needed to accommodate the increase.

In Fargo, some in the community are glad the department’s shortage is being addressed.
 
“A community like this is growing in an astronomical rate were getting bigger and something there seeing, noticing, and addressing,” said Fargo Resident Jason Kennedy.
 
The proposed budget for more officers by Chief David Todd will need to be approved by the city commission.

If approved, the new positions will not be filled until January of 2016. Reporting live, Brittany Ford, KVRR News.