ELY, Minnesota — Recruiting new officers to the police force has become more increasingly competitive since the pandemic and aftermath of George Floyd. Large departments like Minneapolis are offering higher pay and bonuses to join, leaving smaller departments to get more creative with their recruitment techniques.
Two hundred fifty one miles north of the Twin Cities metro sits the gateway to the Boundary Waters. It's easy to get people to visit Ely with the lure of their lakes that are 90% canoe only. Getting them to stay has been the hard part for Ely Police Chief Chad Houde.
"There's more openings than people applying for these agencies. There are people that can apply wherever they want basically and get a job," Houde said.
After only having one person apply for a full-time officer position in 2023, Houde decided to get creative.
"We have a great lifestyle up here and to get you started we are going to get you a canoe," Houde said with a smile.
It's worked, too.
Since launching the program this winter, dozens of applications came flying in. Ely has hired three new police officers since January.
This includes Christian Debrey and Courtney Olson.
Olson's first day this past winter was when Houde announced the new canoe initiative.
"I thought, 'wait a minute, do I get one?'" Olson joked.
She did, along with the rest of the department as part of a retention incentive.
"I think it was December when Chad stopped by (his class) and he did a little meeting with us," Debrey said. "He told us Ely's hiring and this is what our big thing is gonna be, you get a canoe. I was like, 'oh, come on! I mean here we go!"
The canoes, paddles and life jackets costs just roughly under $4,000. If you leave the department within three years though, you need to pay back a portion of the costs. The average pay for a full-time officer position is around $65,000 a year.
Houde hopes it inspires people to apply for rural police departments where the pace may be slower than big cities, but the job is just as rewarding.