Minot PD Says Officers Needed on KMOT-TV North Dakota's NBC News Leader

Minot PD Says Officers Needed | Video

6/30/2009

Whether its because of Minot Air Force Base, the oil fields or simply a job availability, people are moving to Minot.

That means more people for the police department to watch over.

"We are looking into the future because of the growth of the city and the fact that their is federal funding available that we feel is in our best interest to increase the patrol staff," says Capt. Bill Brown, Minot Police Department.

The department is working on getting a grant for $433,000 to hire three new officers in 2010, which the department says is badly needed.

"We`re going to have three or four officers retire and go on to other things so we need to replace those. we need to have trained officers in place to fill those vacancies," says Capt. Steve Kukowski, Minot Police Department.

Once hired it takes about a year for an officer to go through all the training and patrol on his or her own.

After officers receive the proper training it has been difficult for the police department to keep them on staff.

"Right now one of our biggest concerns is employee retention to keep the officers here. Obviously there are some other cities that pay more money than we do and we end up being a training ground," says Kukowski.

The department does what it can by trying to make officers feel at home and accomodate them on shift preferences.

The department has also tried getting grants to offset the cost of equipment.

"Tuesday we are finalizing one for $236,000 in grant money to buy euipment to alleviate that burden on the tax payer so that they don`t have to come forward and put that money upfront," says Kukowski.

If the grant doesn`t come, the department will either have to do without or ask the city for the money.

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