A program that will allow some criminal justice students at Minot State University to receive tuition reimbursement while working as part-time community service officers for the Minot Police Department was set in place by the Minot City Council Monday.

Acting Police Chief Dale Plessas and Dr. Gary Rabe from the criminal justice program at MSU introduced the program to the council in March.

City Manager Harold Stewart said Monday that housing reimbursement was dropped from the originally proposed program because of challenges around IRS rules and a desire to get the program in place so MSU can begin recruiting junior and senior students for this fall.

The initiative enables students to receive up to two years of financial support covering tuition, books and fees as well as part-time wages as community service officers (CSOs) with the police department. In return, participants must commit to serving as police officers for the city for three years upon completing the program.

CSOs can perform a variety of duties that don’t require a licensed law officer, such as conducting community outreach, assisting in investigating crashes and incidents such as vandalism, writing reports, overseeing funeral processions and issuing tow tags.

Stewart said creating the CSO positions will take pressure off full-time police officers as well as provide a pipeline of department recruits.

The partnership expense of $199,919 would be a cost to the city. However, MSU and the city plan to pursue funding through the State’s Career Builder Program, which reimburses 50% of tuition and other college-related expenses. Tuition costs are listed at $31,500.

Costs are based on bringing on four students in this first year, although Stewart said that number could change.

Funding would come from salary savings in the police department, which has been down as many as 15 officers.

“In essence, what we’re doing is we’re exchanging vacant full-time sworn officer positions to fund this program, and then again, as we fill up our full-time positions, we can scale back on this program,” Stewart said.