Staff shortages impacting local emergency services and law enforcement - Valley News Live

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Saving lives with a full crew of emergency responders is still a big undertaking. However, doing that work with only a limited number of staff can make the job even more challenging. This is what emergency services and law enforcement are facing in the Fargo-Moorhead area due to staff shortages.

“It’s been a challenge to keep the workforce engaged, well it’s been hard to be honest,” said Tim Meyer, the senior director of emergency services for Sanford Health. “Nationwide, emergency medical services does have a workforce problem and we do here as well. We do have consistent openings.”

F-M Ambulance is facing similar challenges like many other industries in the nation, being hit by unprecedented staff shortages. They are currently down eight positions and the frequency of calls is increasing more and more each year. These shortages also impact local law enforcement, like the West Fargo PD and Moorhead PD.

“You know struggling to fill vacancies much like every other department I think across the country.” said West Fargo Police Chief Denis Otterness.

“So we’re hoping that we can stay ahead of that curve of getting too far behind, which we’ve gone through before. That just puts so much stress on those that are here still.” said Moorhead Chief of Police Shannon Monroe.

These shortages are putting strains on departments. There are many factors, which include retirements and COVID-19 being attributed to the problem. Despite these challenges, Chief Otterness pointed out that they can’t lower their standards. That it is important to hire only quality candidates for their dept, the city of West Fargo and the community.

“Well we can’t lower our standards because that it going to impact our relationship with the community and the people in the city of West Fargo,” said Otterness. “We’re going to continue to always look for the best candidates to put out working in the community so we’ve had to be strategic about how we manage the shortage.”

These departments have had to make creative ways to help bolster recruitment. This includes education opportunities, academies, high school students having an opportunity to get hands-on experience and for those getting a criminal justice degree.

“We started a cadet program in the last year where we bring on people who are already interested or seeking degrees in criminal justice that are attending school, and we give them a part-time job where they come out and do duties that are similar to like a community service officer.” said Monroe.

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source: https://www.valleynewslive.com/2022/01/31/staff-shortages-impacting-local-emergency-services-law-enforcement/

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