HENNEPIN COUNTY, Minn. — Multiple police chiefs and mayors pushed back after a Hennepin County commissioner stated she was “not willing to fund the sheriff’s office for public safety,” KARE 11 reported.
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office went $11 million over budget last year, prompting some commissioners to call for closer review of spending, according to KARE. During a March 24 meeting, Commissioner Marion Greene questioned the sheriff’s office’s broader public safety role.
The backlash came after Greene stated she wanted the committee to look at the “community ambitions” for the sheriff’s office aside from basic public safety, according to KARE 11. When pressed on that point, she stated that she had heard that the sheriff’s office was “not actually responsible for public safety on the streets.”
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“I’m going to reveal my cards. I’m not willing to fund the sheriff to provide public safety for Hennepin County. I don’t think that is something that office can take on and do well,” Greene stated.
Following Greene’s statement, more than 40 police chiefs and mayors in the county wrote to affirm their need for assistance from the sheriff’s office.
“Public safety in Hennepin County is a shared responsibility, and the Sheriff’s Office is an indispensable part of that ecosystem. Some communities, like Greenfield, have no local police department and rely entirely on the Sheriff’s Office for primary patrol. The vast majority of cities rely on the Sheriff for 911 dispatch, crime lab services, and investigative support. Every city benefits from Sheriff’s Office-led task forces. And every city depends on the continued function of the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center,” the letter states in part.
“The services they provide supplement everything we do in law enforcement. And there is no way we can do our jobs effectively if we didn’t have them as a partner,” said Plymouth Police Chief Erik Fadden.
The sheriff’s office said that Greene’s proposal would violate state law.
“That statement contradicts long-standing practice, Minnesota state law, and the public safety realities in our Hennepin County communities,” the department stated.
