Charles Crane/MDN A city police vehicle sits outside the Minot Police Department on Thursday afternoon.

The Minot Police Department recently elevated two officers to the rank of sergeant, holding a ceremony in the midst of the winter storm last Wednesday. Officers Robbie Sumlin and Taylor Jensen have been with the department since 2014 and 2012, respectively, with Sumlin assigned to investigations and Jensen on patrol.

These promotions come at a critical time for the department, which has been dealing with officer turnover for much of the last year, with the number of vacancies set to reach 12 as of today.

“It’s been really difficult to get applicants, which has been the problem over the last few years,” Klug said. “We’re always accepting applications, and we recently went through a round of testing. But of the 10 who applied, only four showed up, and one of them dropped out.”

Klug said the three that remained went through a final selection panel to determine if they would be getting job offers. The determination was that all three should be hired on. Klug indicated the new recruits will start in January. Until then, the department will have to work around the 12 vacancies, which makes it a little tougher on the current pool of officers, who will have to make up the difference through backfilling and overtime.

“Everyone wants to be able to take time off over the holidays, but someone has to fill that shift,” Klug said.

At a Minot City Council meeting in August, the council made proposals to cut two existing officer positions and one new position on the Ward County Drug Task Force. Council member Paul Pitner explained at the time that the decision was motivated by the difficulties the department was having filling the vacancies.

At that August council meeting, Klug pushed back against the council’s staff cuts, pointing out the department had already spent a considerable amount of money on overtime. Klug stated at the meeting that he was concerned about burnout as well as the physical and mental welling being of his officers being forced to take on more shifts.

The council authorized 84 positions in the 2023 budget but funded only 81, indicating additional funding will be found if the positions can be filled.

Klug said the department budgeted $186,000 for overtime in 2022 but, as of this week, has spent about $287,000 on overtime pay. Klug stressed that the department will be able to use overages from money budgeted for wages to make up the difference, but it has been a struggle to fill the gaps in the department’s roster. One solution proposed by Klug has been to hire on civilians to fill some law-enforcement positions, but the funding for the positions remains up for council discussion.

“That’s been our push with the council the last couple years. One of the first moves I made when they said they weren’t going to fill those positions was to ask if would they allow me to fill those positions with civilians,” Klug said. “There’s interest, and I’ve gotten training for those people seeking those positions. I’ll continue to push filling those positions as they’ll free up the other officers.”

Klug said the department has seen a higher degree of turnover recently. Not all were motivated by issues with benefits or pay. Some officers left to pursue positions closer to where they grew up. Klug did acknowledge that this trend has worked in the department’s favor in regard to recruiting some new officers.

“We had a guy we hired who had been working in Dickinson. His family was from Minot, and he wanted to be closer to home,” Klug said. “This generation is looking for more family interaction. They want career advancement, but they want more of that.”