Jill Schramm/MDN Interim Police Chief Dale Plessas holds up a shirt similar to one that student Community Service Officers would wear to designate their place in the police department. Plessas spoke about the program to the Minot City Council Monday.

The Minot Police Department and Minot State University announced on Monday a collaborative venture designed to enhance student education while taking pressure off the under-staffed police force.

The venture involves placing students in Community Service Officer (CSO) positions, providing job training and assistance with educational costs as they free up law officers to focus on enforcement work.

Interim Minot Police Chief Dale Plessas told the Minot City Council his department is down 15 officers and with more departures on the horizon, it could be down 18 officers soon.

“That’s approximately a full PD shift,” he said. “There’s no way that you can be down that many officers and not have the engines running hot. And right now our engine is running hot. Our officers are going from call to call. They’re not being as proactive as they could be, and they’re asked to take on a lot more. And so the point is, we have to come up with an ambitious plan to cool the engine, but at the same time, a pipeline of officers in the future of the police department. And so this program is a great first step in doing that. It’s a partnership with Minot State that will give us the future that we need.”

Gary Rabe, professor in criminal justice, said the proposed program gives students real workforce and applied learning experiences and a direct pipeline into a career path, along with having many of their educational and housing costs paid while also earning a wage. Once they graduate from MSU, they would commit to work three years with the Minot Police Department or be subject to repaying their educational assistance.

Rabe said the concept funded by the Legislature through the North Dakota Career Builders Program was designed for two-year colleges. The Legislature expanded it to four year colleges in recognition of the workplace issues that exist across the state.

“We’re finally able to step up to the table and begin to develop programs aligned to our high need areas and programs that we have on campus,” he said, noting the opportunity for students at MSU will be a first in the state. “It’s a way for us to recruit to Minot State. Frankly, this is going to be a program like no other in North Dakota.”

Students must be in their junior and senior years at MSU to participate or in a two year program. Rabe said Minot received Board of Higher Education approval less than a month ago to offer an associate’s degree in policing.

City Manager Harold Stewart said the proposal is to use the salary savings from vacant officer positions to invest into a program that can help refill those positions. At a cost of $45,000 to $51,000 per student, bringing in four students as CSOs would cost about $200,000, but the state potentially could pick up 50% of the cost, he said. The first participating students could enroll this fall.

Stewart said he expects the city would use the CSO program more aggressively when the department has significant employment needs but could decrease its usage if the program is successful in filling those employment gaps.

By employing students as part-time Community Service officers it would free sworn law enforcement officers from nonemergency responsibilities that don’t require actual enforcement, Plessas said. He listed conducting community outreach, assisting in investigating accidents and incidents such as vandalism, writing reports, overseeing funeral processions and issuing tow tags.

He also noted having the CSOs presents an opportunity to create an online portal for the public to report minor crimes, which a CSO could then process into an investigative format for a law enforcement officer to act on.

Plessas explained CSOs would have uniforms to distinguish them from sworn officers, similar to the civilian animal and parking control officers. Patrol cars retired from the fleet also could be transitioned into use by CSOs.

“The idea of grabbing on to potential recruits early in the process is great,” council member Mike Blessum said. “We’ve got to work through the details and how we go about that. But I think the concept is right.”

Council member Rob Fuller called the program great outside-the-box thinking on officer recruitment.

“I love the idea, so I hope it’s successful for us as we go forward,” he said.

“I’m excited for it,” Mayor Tom Ross added. “I’m excited to see the group refine it and put it into something that you can bring back to the council and we can vote on it and move forward. So kudos to everyone involved in this one. This is a big step for the Minot Police Department, a big step in the right direction.”