Grand Forks Police Chief Jason Freedman Presented An Update To City Council About Police Department’s Efforts Of Patrolling Downtown

(KNOX) – Grand Forks Police Chief Jason Freedman presented an update about the police department’s efforts of patrolling downtown at the City Council’s committee of the whole meeting Monday. He says there were a lot of improvements, especially in Town Square, where in that area; service calls went down 46 percent, arrests declined 65.5 percent and citations decreased by 73 percent.

Freedman also says that police service calls are down 11 percent across downtown compared to last year, but he does still consider the area to be vulnerable. He believes these safety efforts will need to still be practiced going forward.

Freedman was asked by Councilwoman Rebecca Osowski about city-operated cameras in Town Square and if he knows what types of cameras they are. Freedman says he doesn’t know but he does say that they aren’t Flock Safety cameras.

Flock Safety cameras have created a lot of privacy concerns as cities and counties in North Dakota and Minnesota have removed them.

Also, work on the building’s upper floor and remodels to the department detectives office space are almost finished. He says finishing the first floor is well ahead of the original scheduled timeline. The project on the first floor could be finished before Christmas, instead of the original finish date of January 2027.

Meanwhile, the Grand Forks City Council gave preliminary approval for specific planning and advertising regarding construction bids for a watermain replacement project on Cottonwood Street between Fourth Avenue South and Ninth Avenue South. They also made similar approval for a lead service line replacement. The watermain project is projected to cost $1.2 million, and the lead line replacement is expected to be $3.2 million. Both of these projects will happen next year.The Grand Forks City Council also gave preliminary approval to a $150,065 change order for the third phase of the Highway 81 watermain installation project. This change order would include additional private service connections, and it would cover costs for work around unmarked private utilities. It would also help the city find possible a leak on an adjacent existing watermain.