“Today’s ride-along emphasized the urgent need to support our police,” Emmer said. “Thank you to Chief Oxton for opening up the station to us, and always, we are grateful to our law enforcement for their hard work to keep our communities safe.”

Tuesday’s ride-along was Emmer’s first visit to the station since the retirement of SCPD Chief Blair Anderson in November. Chief Anderson was a guest of Emmer’s for the 2023 State of the Union address. 

Background: 

Emmer has been a longtime champion for the work of law enforcement. He was an early supporter of the Saint Cloud Community OutPost (COP) House, a community base for the SCPD which provides programming like youth vision screenings, dental clinics, after-school homework help and financial literacy classes to Saint Cloud residents. Some communities which introduce a COP House see crime decrease in surrounding areas by up to seventy percent. 

Last Congress, Emmer was inspired by the success of the Saint Cloud COP House to introduce the Community OutPost Outreach and Engagement Act, a bill which would take the SCPD’s successful program nationwide. More information on the bill is available here.

Emmer has advocated for the allocation of federal resources for local law enforcement. For the 2023 fiscal year, Emmer helped secure $770.8 million for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program, which directs funding to state and local recipients to support local law enforcement, corrections, drug treatment and more.

In February, Emmer hosted a roundtable for Sixth District law enforcement in Elk River, Minnesota. You can read more about that event here. 

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