Lansing City Council hires Ross Kolsrud as new chief of police; Urban Revitalization Plan/Tax Abatement Ordinance approved

by Julie Berg-Raymond

Monday, September 30, 2024, Ross Kolsrud will become Lansing’s new chief of police.

Currently an Allamakee County Deputy Sheriff, Kolsrud was hired as the city’s chief of police during the regular Lansing City Council meeting held Tuesday, September 3, a day later than the council’s typical Monday meeting date due to the Labor Day holiday observed September 2. As chief of police, Kolsrud will be paid $75,000 per year with two weeks of annual vacation time.

LAW ENFORCEMENT BACKGROUND
Kolsrud, who graduated from Kee High School in Lansing in 2004, began his law enforcement career with the Lansing Police Department in 2017. In 2019, he took a position with the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office. Since 2020, Deputy Kolsrud has been partnered with K9 Tyr, a Belgian Malinois.

Deputy Kolsrud and K9 Tyr both graduated from the K9 training program at Blue Line K9 of Minnesota, LLC, in Rushford, MN. K9 Tyr is certified in narcotics and is trained in patrol dog, apprehension, room searches and building searches, obedience, criminal apprehension and bite work.

K9 Tyr lives with Deputy Kolsrud’s family and spends almost every moment with him, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In light of this development, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors will address the situation involving the partnership between K9 Tyr and his handler, Deputy Kolsrud, at the board’s next meeting scheduled for Monday, September 16.

FIRST PRIORITIES
“The first priority for me will be to hire officers into the department,” Deputy Kolsrud said in an email interview following the meeting. “This will be a somewhat slow process, but I’m hoping to start moving on it soon. I would also like to have some dialogue with community members about moving the towns of Lansing and New Albin forward, and to understand what their expectations are of me and vice versa.”

To read the full article, pick up the Wednesday, September 11, 2024 print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.