Mutual aid between F-M law enforcement agencies may soon resume - INFORUM
MOORHEAD — For about the past year, local law enforcement agencies on the North Dakota and Minnesota sides of the Red River have not engaged in their customary cross-border cooperative efforts, including a joint SWAT team, a joint street crimes unit and close cooperation between narcotics investigators.
But that could change soon, according to Clay County Sheriff Mark Empting.
"I'm hoping it's within a month," said Empting, who this past week updated the Clay County Commission on efforts by Clay County Attorney Brian Melton to put together a presentation that will train North Dakota officers on a newly revised Minnesota law regarding use of deadly force.
After Minnesota's law was revised in March 2021 following the death of George Floyd while in custody of Minneapolis police, North Dakota law enforcement agencies in the area stopped providing mutual aid to Minnesota agencies because they were concerned about changes contained in the law.
At the same time, Empting said, Minnesota officers stopped providing mutual aid to their counterparts in North Dakota due to stretched resources.
The path toward renewed cooperation began clearing late last year, when a judge struck down as unconstitutional language in Minnesota's revised use of force law as part of a lawsuit brought by the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association; the Minnesota Sheriff's Association; the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association; and Law Enforcement Labor Services.
Prior to the revision of Minnesota's use of deadly force rules in 2021, officers were authorized to use deadly force to protect the peace officer or another from "apparent death or great bodily harm."
The revised statute eliminated the word "apparent" and added three requirements to justify the use of deadly force, including that the threat of death or great bodily harm must be able to be "articulated with specificity by the law enforcement officer."
The latter phrase found opposition among law enforcement organizations who maintained it could deprive officers of their Fifth Amendment right barring self incrimination.
The lawsuit was resolved after a judge eliminated that part of the new law, though new training requirements remain in place.
To satisfy those training requirements, Melton said he is working on putting together a PowerPoint presentation he hopes to present to area officers on the North Dakota side of the Red River, including Fargo and West Fargo police and the Cass County Sheriff's Office.
Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner confirmed that Melton has been working with the Cass County State's Attorney's Office and the city attorneys for Fargo and West Fargo on designing a training presentation for officers. However, he said, no dates have been set for the training.
Jahner also noted that the local SWAT team encompasses negotiations, bomb, and tactical personnel and he said after local agencies suspended mutual aid, bomb and negotiations personnel would still respond to calls for mutual aid if the need arose, though the tactical aspect of the SWAT team was not part of that mutual aid.
Fargo Police Cheif David Zibolski said that during the time backup from Minnesota agencies has not been available, Fargo police, West Fargo police and the Cass County Sheriff's Office have relied on each for help when it was needed.
He said he is looking forward to once more having help available from Minnesota, perhaps within a month.
"Having all options available is a good thing. On both sides of the river, that's a positive," Zibolski said.
source: https://www.inforum.com/news/mutual-aid-between-f-m-law-enforcement-agencies-may-soon-resume
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