ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – A proposed bill in the Minnesota Legislature, with backing from Republicans and DFLers in the Minnesota House and Senate, aims to increase retention rates for Minnesota-based police officers by offering a scholarship program.
The program would allow current police officers or their dependents to obtain scholarships for degrees in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice.
All Minnesota State and University of Minnesota schools would fall under the program.
Authors say the bill would help retain more officers and provide additional opportunities.
Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson also sees the bill as a positive. During his interview with KTTC, Torgerson discussed his hope the community continues to see the good law enforcement does in society and how this bill will help retain law enforcement officers.
“We have a detention [center] staff that’s over 90 people. There are several people [on that staff] that want to continue and would like to move and get their degrees and move into the law enforcement side,” he said. “That would be a fantastic help for them because most of them [have] families, they’re busy and they’d love to do it, but the funds are not quite there. So, it’s just a challenge for them so that would be huge.”
The bill has votes from both sides of the aisle, and authors believe it’ll have the support to pass both chambers.
Lawmakers are waiting for finalized state budget targets to determine how much funding is available to them before putting a price tag on the bill.
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