Council fires Cloquet police officer

Cloquet city councilors and mayor Roger Maki voted unanimously to fire Cloquet police officer Laci Silgjord Wednesday night, Feb. 2, after closing the virtual council meeting for more than 45 minutes as they discussed the recommendation. Silgjord, who had been on paid administrative leave since May 12, 2021, was also the department's K-9 officer.

No details were available on the reason for terminating Silgjord's position during the vote. City officials said copies of the complaint or investigation won't be made public until after Silgjord has had the opportunity to complete the grievance process, or Veterans Preference process, as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the Teamsters Union.

Silgjord did not address the council during the public portion of the online meeting, and it is unknown at this point what conversations took place during the closed meeting.

Residents T.J. and Kelli Smith addressed the council during the public comments portion of the meeting, praising Silgjord for her response to their call about a violation of an order for protection after six previous calls had never resulted in any legal action. Kelli Smith said she felt her concerns about her abuser were not taken seriously, which emboldened her abuser.

"I often thought I would be just another statistic, leaving behind a widowed husband and a child without his mother," Kelli said. Then Silgjord came in response to the seventh call and wrote a five-page report, and charges were eventually filed against Smith's abuser.

"The female officer heard her. That was the officer that held him accountable and went to the prosecutors and made sure that justice was served that day," T.J. said. "I have to say that female officer made sure my family was safe today. Nobody else in Cloquet was willing to do that."

The couple outlined in detail various issues with other officers and administrators, and asserted the decision to investigate and potentially fire Silgjord was unfair and alleged the police department has "a clear issue with women." Kelli Smith also outlined several instances of previous illegal or questionable behavior by police officers, some occurring years ago, that did not result in dismissal and expressed her frustration with what she sees as inconsistent standards.

Because city officials are legally unable to share the information that went into their decision, it was impossible to verify anything the Smiths said during the meeting regarding Silgjord's discipline.

The city did, however, respond to public data requests from the Pine Knot News for any past disciplinary actions regarding Silgjord.

Silgjord had been disciplined twice before. On March 5, 2018, she was given a verbal reprimand and on Nov. 7, 2019, she was given a written reprimand.

The 2019 discipline came in response to Silgjord "inadvertently" posting comments to Facebook writing as the Cloquet Police Department that reflected poorly on the department.

Police chief Derek Randall wrote in the disciplinary report that after he received a complaint, he reviewed the CPD Facebook activity.

"I found four other posts that should not have been posted from the CPD account," he wrote. "One comment, on [redacted] FB page, discredits, is disparaging, and not conducive to positive relationship building with our criminal justice partners." That action violated police department policy prohibiting social media content that is abusive, discriminatory and inflammatory, and various other social media policies.

According to the report, Silgjord apologized and said she had not intended to post from the CPD FB page and had requested a log-in versus having the page linked to her personal account.

The verbal reprimand in 2018 was in regards to Silgjord violating CPD policy when she arrested a suspect without any legal basis for his arrest and subsequently searched and held the vehicle he was driving [not his own] for forfeiture when the arrest did not warrant it.

"The arrest of the suspect and holding the vehicle for forfeiture while knowing the vehicle was not eligible for forfeiture and subsequent comments made by you on media open to the public has interfered with an ongoing drug investigation," previous police chief/commander Carey Ferrell wrote, adding that comments on CAD (computer aided dispatch) also jeopardized the safety of an informant. Ferrell called Silgjord's comments a "clear violation of seizure and an abuse of your authority, and the constitutional rights of the vehicle owner."

"My expectation is that you perform good police work within the parameters set forth in policy, procedures and rules by the Cloquet Police Department, State of Minnesota Statutes and Courts," Ferrell wrote in the goals and expectations portion of the employee discipline form.

Next to the box where Silgjord signed the form, she wrote "I do not agree with all of this!"

Although the council voted to terminate her employment last week, Silgjord has 10 calendar days to file a grievance objecting to the decision. From that point, there are various steps to be followed, including the police chief answering a written grievance in writing. The grievance would go to the city administrator next.

If those steps did not result in the desired outcome, the employee can then submit the grievance to the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services, to be decided by a mutually accepted arbitrator who would rule on the specific issues in the grievance.

Cloquet police officers have seen mixed results through the Bureau of Mediation. Jeff Palmer was reinstated to his police officer position after arbitration in 2008. More recently, former detective Scott Holman lost an arbitration case in November 2019 regarding his dismissal.