I am impressed by the work of the St. Cloud Police Department in partnering with the
community.
I worked to help establish the St. Cloud Community Policing Agreement and Stearns
County Sheriff’s Office Community Policing Agreements. The policy agreements, for
example, are pacts reflecting a relationship of trust, collaboration and fairness between
several community organizations and the police departments. Cold Spring is reviewing
and updating its agreement based on St. Cloud’s and I expect other communities will
follow suit.
St. Cloud police partner with CentraCare’s mental health professionals and the court
system in finding ways to better aid people experiencing homelessness. Officers
interact with residents through the Community OutPost (COP) house and an array of
youth programs. The chief or a department representative often attends community
meetings to listen to city residents’ concerns.
Our firefighters also do a tremendous job keeping our community safe. We have 70
firefighters covering 5 fire stations with coordination between many captains, 3 battalion
chiefs and 1 fire chief. Much time is spent in coordinating the department to keep how
they operate every day the same despite who is on duty.
As your St. Cloud City Council member, I would:
 Encourage police departments and communities across the region to develop
policing agreements modeled on St. Cloud’s.
 Push for citywide use of Safe Spaces, an app through which everyone can
participate in open conversations without fear of judgment about their thoughts
and feelings. This type of relationship building is an important step in fostering
public safety.
 Create policies and support that would provide incentives to people to enter the
professions of public safety.
 Enact public safety policies based on input from our community and our police
and fire departments. 
What other solutions would you support?