6 September 2023
EAST GRAND FORKS The East Grand Forks Police Department and the public school district have ended a contract that placed school resource officers in East Grand Forks schools. The decision comes after a new state law that some say limits the ability of SROs to use force to deal with incidents.
However, the Police Department has agreed to assign regular patrol officers to the school buildings during school hours.
The EGFPD agreed to recommend the change following “numerous discussions and a great deal of research” with the city, according to a Sept. 1 memo Police Chief Michael Hedlund wrote to East Grand Forks City Council members.
The council voted to accept the change at its regular meeting Tuesday night, Sept. 5, adding East Grand Forks to the growing list of Minnesota cities that have formally pulled SROs from school districts in recent weeks.
At the center of the change is Minnesota’s new education bill, signed by Gov. Tim Walz in May. While a previous version of the law stated that SROs may use force to “restrain a student or prevent bodily harm or death,” language in the law was updated to say they may only use force to “restrain a student to prevent bodily harm or death.”
Police say the change leaves officers unable to restrain students who are damaging property, causing criminal mischief, or any other disturbance that otherwise does not carry a risk of causing death or harm.
Non-SRO officers are not subject to the change, and former EGFPD SRO Cpl. Nick Gunderson will be reassigned to the department’s patrol unit, where he will continue to be assigned to the school district outside of a formal contract with the schools.
With the suspension of the contract, the school district will no longer pay for any portion of officers’ wages or benefits. According to the contract, which was renewed on July 25, the school district paid 65% of the SROs’ wages and the Police Department paid the other 35%.
According to the resolution adopted by the council Tuesday night, the city attorney has confirmed that the Police Department and the city may reenter the contract at their discretion at any point during the 2023-24 school year if the language of the law is changed.
“It is our sincere hope that this legislation is amended to allow SROs to use force in the same situations that any other police officer would be able to do and we can reinstitute our SRO program as soon as possible,” Hedlund wrote in his memo.
At the Tuesday meeting, East Grand Forks Mayor Steve Gander sharply criticized the Legislature.
“Nationally, school shootings are at record highs in the past several years, and a recent study by the CDC says teen deaths by drug overdose more than doubled in a one-year span,” he said.
“Does that sound like a good time to remove authority from police officers in the schools? Or remove them from the schools entirely? Does that match with our objective of developing our youth in a positive way? We don’t think so. But it seems that some in the Minnesota Legislature do. By taking away school resource officers’ appropriate use of force, they tipped the scales in favor of criminal activity.”
In other council news:
The council approved the loan agreement for Hawkes Manufacturing for $49,000 at 1% for a 10-year term. The loan will go toward a computer equipment purchase totaling $147,000. Council members authorized a five-year subscription for in-car and bodycam equipment for the EGFPD totaling $100,524. They approved a request to declare the 2002 Olympia Ice Resurfacer as surplus and approved its sale to the Greenway Amateur Hockey Association. They authorized an agreement with Brady Martz & Associates for auditing services through 2025. They resolved to enter into agreements with the state for fixed-route transportation and paratransit services in East Grand Forks in 2024.]]>