Minnesota city votes to disband police force as latest town to face staffing, budgeting shortfalls

The government of Moose Lake, Minnesota, has voted to disband its entire police force after the City Council voted to contract with the county for law enforcement, per a report out Thursday. 

Mayor Ted Shaw told the Star Tribune that he was "disappointed" by the decision. 

Moose Lake will form a contract with the Carlton County Sheriff's Office. 

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The government of Moose Lake, Minnesota, has voted to disband its entire police force after the city council voted to make a contract with the county for law enforcement, per a report Thursday.  (Getty Images | iStock)

The vote was partially motivated by budget concerns. Last fall, the City Council reduced the size of a "5-person police force" in order to fund the entire department," the outlet reported. Then, in January, two more officers resigned, which only left one officer on the force. 

"Public safety would have made up a major portion of Moose Lake's $2.8 million 2024 budget — about $900,000 for a five-person force and part-time administrative support, said Ellissa Owens, its city administrator," the report revealed. 

The vote to dissolve yet another police department in Minnesota comes just months after Goodhue, a small city in the southeastern part of the state, lost its entire police force after the chief and other members of the department handed in their resignations in August. 

"I think we're all a little bit blindsided by it, but we're resilient, and we're going to move forward," Goodhue Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck told Fox 9 at the time. 

"I want to reiterate that we will have police coverage in the city of Goodhue," Buck said. "That is not an issue."

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Moose Lake, Minnesota, Mayor Ted Shaw told the Star Tribune that he was "disappointed" by the decision.  (iStock)

Moose Lake houses "prisoners of the Minnesota Correctional Facility and residents of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program," per the Star Tribune. "Together, they make up about half of the city's population."

"That tells you there is a real problem with inflation and budget and state supports," Shaw said in response to the number of closed departments in the state. "Something isn't right."

Mayor Shaw and the Moose Lake Police Department did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

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