Blackduck considers disbanding police force, contracting with sheriff

BLACKDUCK — The Blackduck City Council is considering disbanding its police force and contracting public safety services with the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office.

The Council heard questions and concerns from a few residents Monday, March 16, about the potential disbandment of the Blackduck Police Department.

City Administrator Christina Regas said the department has struggled for years to attract long-term employees. Blackduck’s property tax levy supports a full-time police chief and a full-time patrol officer, but currently, only part-time employees are on staff. They are simultaneously employed by the Beltrami County sheriff.

“It really hurts to be able to say, ‘We're going to levy for the budget and we can't fill it with personnel,’ because we're not doing the taxpayers a service by doing that,” Regas said.

Contracting the service with the county would save the city between $25,000 and $40,000 a year, according to city officials.

Beltrami County Sheriff Jason Riggs has a lot of experience with Blackduck. Early in his career, he was the Blackduck Police chief after serving as a patrol officer. He was also once the Blackduck mayor after serving on the Council.

The proposed contract would assign one deputy to the city of Blackduck for 40 hours each week.

“If this were to go to us to provide services, you would have the same amount of officers that you had six months ago in town," Riggs said. “When that officer is not working, it's covered by our north end, and if our north end [deputy] is not working, then you're getting service from the sheriff's office in the south end.”

A formal decision on disbanding is not expected until June.