Our View: Police request is reasonable, for now

The Cloquet Police Department recently requested a significant amount of city funds on $109,000 worth of equipment. Stuff like new squad computers, new squad car video, new stun guns, and new security measures at the police station.

It was a bold request. But after careful consideration and review, we feel the request was worthwhile. The Cloquet City Council agreed, approving the new purchases unanimously, using police funds not spent from the 2020 budget.

The budget has a surplus of at least $139,000, and those funds won’t carry over to next year’s police budget. So, Chief Derek Randall felt it was a good time to replace some aging equipment and make up for some deferred needs from the past few years.

It’s a wise use of the unspent funds. As it was explained to the council, the unused funds from this year’s budget would have gone back to the city, but due to high turnover in police department administration in recent years, significant routine updates and upgrades were delayed or ignored, leaving the police force with outdated technology in the squad cars and deficiencies in some other areas. Because the department was not fully staffed for the entire year, payroll was lower than expected, resulting in the surplus.

Our worry is that the money for such upkeep and maintenance was included in past years’ budgets, but was apparently not spent wisely. So, it feels like a lucky fluke that there’s money available now to catch up. The recent equipment request itself is reasonable, but if money wasn’t available the expense would have fallen onto the general fund, which would have been a much harder decision by the council.

We hope future department needs don’t depend on such luck. And based on the past six months of leadership by new police chief Derek Randall, we anticipate such expenses will be properly budgeted and properly spent.