Rosemount Police: State Shutdown Spurs Only Slight Public Safety Concerns

During his petition for additional funding on Tuesday afternoon, League of Minnesota Cities attorney Tom Grundhoefer presented arguments to suggest shutdown-related limitations on Minnesota police departments are putting public safety at risk.

According to Grundhoefer, shutting down Minnesota’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) licensing board has made it impossible to recruit, hire or train new public safety officers. In cases where officers move on from a police department, it is impossible to replace them with a government shutdown in place.

“The hiring process (for police officers) is lengthy,” City of Hutchinson Police Chief Daniel Hatten explained. “Once we reach the point where an officer can be hired and training can begin, we still have three to four months before that officer can become a functioning member of the public safety department. Every day we kick the can down the road prolongs this scenario.”

Fortunately for the Rosemount Police Department, they are not greatly affected by this issue. Police Officer Shawn McMenomy was the last person who was hired to work at the department beginning on May 17, and was sworn in by Mayor Bill Droste on June 7.

According to Rosemount Police Chief Gary Kalstabakken, "We’re OK with [McMenomy]. He already was hired and issued a license." 

His field training won't be affected either, and McMenomy is scheduled to begin working as a patrol officer in September.

However, the department could be affected by the shutdown in the future since they are currently in the process of hiring another new officer. Kalstabakken said they have narrowed down the search and are finalizing the background check on that individual.

"If [the new officer] doesn’t have an active license, we wouldn’t be able to hire him until the board opens again," Kalstabakken said.

He added, "Hopefully, the start date will be far enough out that [we] won’t be affected by this."

Also, current police officers and county courts are at risk.

With the government shutdown in place, vehicle license databases are not being updated, explained Minneapolis-based attorney Kurt Glaser.

Put simply, the databases that help officers determine the category and number of vehicle-related offenses since the government shutdown are erroneous at best and incomplete at worst.

“Police officers may start to err on the side of not taking offenders into custody because drivers know they’ll get a pass,” Glaser told Special Master Kathleen Blatz.

“I don’t know the details of what’s being updated. [However], it is important for the officers on the street to know [information about a] vehicle, who it belongs to … We do have a reliance on the Department of Motor Vehicles for that information," Kalstabakken said.

David Lillehaug, Special Counsel for Gov. Mark Dayton, echoed the sentiments of most people in the room, “This sounds like a serious problem. It needs to be dealt with immediately. We request the right to come back to this issue as early as tomorrow.”

Special Master Blatz continued hearing petitions on Tuesday from nonprofit organizations seeking funding after being deemed “non-core, non-essential” prior to the Minnesota state government shutdown.