Chief Fritz: Minnesota Government Shutdown Has No Affect on Richfield Police Department

While League of Minnesota Twin Cities attorney Tom Grundhoefer presented arguments Tuesday afternoon to suggest shutdown-related limitations on Minnesota police departments put public safety at risk, Richfield Public Safety Director told Patch the shutdown is a non-issue.

“The shutdown is not having any affect on us,” Fritz said in an e-mail to Richfield Patch. “We are still able to access the information we need to.”

While Richfield Police may not be feeling the effects of the shutdown, those cities in the process of recruiting or hiring new officers are being halted, according to Grundhoefer.

With the Minnesota’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) licensing board being closed during the shutdown, Grundhoefer said it is impossible to recruit, hire or train new public safety officers. In cases where officers move on from a police department, it is also impossible to replace them with a government shutdown in place.

“The hiring process [for police officers] is lengthy,” City of Hutchinson Police Chief Daniel Hatten explained. “Once we reach the point where an officer can be hired and training can begin, we still have three to four months before that officer can become a functioning member of the public safety department. Every day we kick the can down the road prolongs this scenario.”

In addition, with the government shutdown in place, vehicle license databases are not being updated, explained Minneapolis-based attorney Kurt Glaser.

Put simply, the databases that help officers determine the category and number of vehicle-related offenses since the government shutdown are erroneous at best and incomplete at worst.

“Police officers may start to err on the side of not taking offenders into custody because drivers know they’ll get a pass,” Glaser told Special Master Kathleen Blatz.

However, Richfield officers don’t seem to be deterred from bringing in criminals. Richfield Public Safety’s most recent crime reports, which detailed incidents from July 1-3, indicated that officers had filed charges against multiple offenders for driving-related violations—from driving after revocation to DUI. Details of those reports are available on Richfield Patch be click here.

Obviously, there may be many unseen impacts this early in the shutdown. Richfield Patch will continue to update readers on any changes or any problems that arise for local law enforcement as a result of the shutdown.