Waite Park Police Chief Bentrud Proposes County Agreement, Department Reorganization

(KNSI) – Waite Park Police Chief Dave Bentrud and Stearns County Emergency Manager Erin Tufte spoke to the city council Monday night about the possibility of a Joint Powers Agreement between the two entities.

It would essentially turn the county into Waite Park’s emergency manager. Bentrud has been both top cop and incident response coordinator for years. He says it can’t work. The chief of police has defined responsibilities that conflict with his other title.

“To take that person away and then put them in charge of an incident command, where you’ve got to deal with a lot of other areas like logistics and finance…that’s too much.”

Waite Park officials would still be responsible for making an emergency declaration and asking Stearns County staff for help. The county and the City of St. Cloud already have a similar agreement in place. The next step is for Waite Park Mayor Rick Miller to meet with St. Cloud’s Dave Kleis and his staff, along with county representatives to discuss expanding the agreement to include Waite Park.

The council was receptive to the idea while more hesitant surrounding Bentrud’s second proposal of the work session. Bentrud wants to promote from within to give the police department a fourth sergeant.

The move would be primarily to help increase the department’s supervisory capacity. It is an issue that stems from growth and new hires, but also from changes in the makeup of the force.

“When I came here, we had a pretty veteran department. Fifteen years later, they’re retired and you’ve gotten really young. The nature of police work is more complex. You just need to have that supervision today in Waite Park that maybe you didn’t need 15 years ago.”

The extra sergeant would help deal with community members suffering from mental health issues, who have frequent interactions with law enforcement. Bentrud says one person may be the subject of a police response five, six, or even seven times per month.

Bentrud also wants the department to be more proactive against gangs and drugs and he wants the veteran to help avoid “rookie mistakes” from the younger officers. When asked what that meant, Bentrud pointed to making an arrest without probable cause as a potential example.

Bentrud says the request stems from conversations he has had with his senior staff. The council and mayor asked for more time to consider the issue. Several suggested during the session that the new police chief should be allowed to propose their own plan later this year. Bentrud is set to retire in May.

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