Faribault County has done it again —- the Sheriff’s Department has plucked another police officer from the Winnebago Police Department.
It’s the second officer in the last four months that the city has lost to the county.
“I will recommend this upcoming meeting that the council hire someone,” says Police Chief Eric Olson. “I have been in contact with the Personnel Committee throughout the process.”
The County Board at their last meeting approved the hiring of officer Jacob Pettit.
Chief Deputy Scott Adams says that Vincent Do and Pettit were interviewed to fill a deputy’s position for which Do was hired last June.
Olson and Pettit have been the city’s only full-time officers the past several months. The department also has seven part-time officers on its roster.
“Overtime has been minimal and has been no different than when we are at regular staff,” he says.
As a council member, Mayor Scott Robertson called the county’s practice of hiring several Winnebago officers in the past “bothersome.”
Pettit, who has been full time with the department since 2017, still is waiting for the outcome of a complaint filed against him with the state POST board in June 2020.
The complaint alleges that Pettit used “excessive force” during the arrest of a motorist in May 2020.
The POST board regulates law enforcement practices and the licensing of officers.
The City Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday beginning at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Center.