Moorhead police chief says staff is 'fatigued' after recent wave of violent crime – InForum

MOORHEAD – “You are tired and need a break.”

This is the message from Moorhead Police Chief Shannon Monroe after two violent weeks that included two murders and a wild shootout in a residential neighborhood.

Since early July, Moorhead police have also been investigating another shooting incident and two bodies found in public, one in the Red River and one in Horn Park.

“What they really need is a break, they need some space to recover,” Monroe said.

Monroe has been with the Moorhead Police Department for over 30 years. He said this is not the first time the department has experienced such a crime wave.

“You can't predict what's coming, like these recent events. There was no indication that something like this was brewing,” Monroe said.

He said it was “more strenuous” this time because of staffing issues. The MPD's patrol division has the capacity to employ 37 officers, compared to 24 currently.

At full staff, the MPD has 9 investigators. Right now, there are three less. Monroe said the investigative unit's workload is also increasing as investigators are busy preparing for two murder trials in the coming weeks. These cases date back to 2021 and last year.

The chief says that while his investigators “have it tough,” they keep a close eye on their workload to ensure morale doesn't drop and avoid burnout, including assistance from the Clay County Sheriff's Office and the Minnesota State Patrol.

“Basically, we have to go out and tell them that we are going to try to give them some breathing room here and provide additional assistance. We are heavily dependent on our partners right now to get through this period,” he said.

It has come to a point where police have to prioritize calls. If someone is in danger, officers will come immediately. However, calls about minor harassment will have to wait. The chief admitted that the next few months will be “difficult.”

“Please be patient with us as, due to limited resources, we may not be able to complete some things as we normally would like,” Monroe said.

Despite this recent crime wave, calls have dropped dramatically in recent years. Comparing July 2021 to this July, there were nearly 600 fewer calls. The chief attributes this to hiring a crime analyst to track problem areas and a community resource navigator to investigate mental health calls.

“We are seeing an increase in some violent crime, but overall this is a relatively safe community compared to other metropolitan areas,” Monroe said.

The boss hopes to have better staffing levels by the beginning of next year.

Matt Henson is an Emmy Award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Before joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the lead anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years.