The city of Moose Lake, Minnesota, voted on Wednesday to disband its police force, citing budget constraints and a sharp decrease in staffing.
The Moose Lake City Council voted instead to contract with the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement, which will include four deputies working out of the city, according to the Star Tribune.
The council said this would be the cheaper option instead of paying a three-person police force after the city reduced the size of the department from five to three last fall to fund it properly. Before the reduction, two of the five officers resigned last fall, and two others resigned in January, leaving only one Moose Lake officer on the force.
Moose Lake is one of several small cities in Minnesota struggling to maintain public safety due to a shortage of police officers in the state and increasing costs to maintain a police department. In Goodhue, Minnesota, the entire police force resigned last August, with the chief citing pay and recruiting concerns. According to Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training records, 35 municipal police departments have dissolved since 2016, and about 400 remain.
Police in Moose Lake were costing the city about $900,000 for a five-person team out of its $2.8 million 2024 budget, city administrator Ellissa Owens said via Star Tribune. Nearly 90% of property taxes would go to the police department after a 28% increase this year due to police health insurance changes, Owens said, which would have forced other city departments to rely on local government aid.
The contract with Carlton County, on the other hand, is projected to cost about $665,000, or 5% less than Moose Lake’s current budget for three officers and administration.
Something that makes Moose Lake unique compared to other Minnesota cities losing their police departments is that the city is home to the Minnesota Correctional Facility and the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. Both facilities’ residents combined make up about half of Moose Lake’s population.
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Mayor Ted Shaw was one of two dissenting votes, saying afterward he would work to make a smooth transition but “I’m disappointed.” He said he was struck by the number of departments that have closed in small cities across Minnesota.
“That tells you there is a real problem with inflation and budget and state supports,” he said. “Something isn’t right.”