Small Minnesota police department offering officers 1-month paid sabbatical

PAYNESVILLE, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Minnesota police department is trying something new to hire, retain and improve the overall health of its police officers.

The police department in the city of Paynesville is offering paid sabbaticals to its small police force.

With only 2,500 residents and just four officers to protect them all, Cody Haakonson is the longest-serving officer right now in Paynesville at just shy of three years.

"Every day is different," explained Officer Haakonson. "I get to see so many different experiences, see so many different people."

But, he can tell you, a small town doesn’t mean small crime. From homicides to drugs to domestics, responding to problems, crimes and negative situations can chip away at an officers’ physical and mental health. So, in November, the chief of police thought a one-month paid sabbatical might help.

"Usually you start seeing guys struggle between year three and five," said Paynesville Police Chief Paul Wegner. "They've been in long enough, they've seen enough, they've dealt with enough, you know, and now they're starting to experience some of that stress."

So now, at five years, officers will choose a month, turn in their work phone, emails will be diverted and they are not allowed to step foot inside the police department. It’s a chance to reset and decompress and hopefully come back ready to serve better than ever.

"The more I kind of researched it, the more I found that companies would see better production from their staff," said Chief Wegner. "It decreased the errors and mistakes that were being made because they were more focused on what needed to be done and ultimately their job performance improved and increased."

The police union never thought the mayor and city council would go for it but they did convinced by the chief that it’s more cost-effective to offer the sabbatical than lose officers to PTSD, burnout, or other mental health issues.

He says this new idea goes right along with the nationwide effort to reform the way police respond to calls.

"We can't just talk about how we handle situations," the chief said. "We have to talk about how we treat the people who are responsible for handling them."

The department actually started a wellness program in 2018 giving officers’ free access to a gym, encouraging two meetings a year with a psychologist and meetings with a chaplain if desired.

The sabbatical is an extension of that and the chief hopes to eventually repeat the sabbatical for officers every three to four years.

"Yeah, I don't have any plans of leaving," explained Officer Haakonson, "and I absolutely don't now because I think the city and city council members have shown that they're willing to invest in us."