Photo courtesy of Eric Wallen Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen testified before the Minnesota Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee last week, in support of sustaining funding for state-mandated police training.

The state of Minnesota needs to maintain funding support for law enforcement training, Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen told Minnesota legislators.

Last week, Wallen traveled to St. Paul to testify before the Minnesota Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. Wallen said he and other law enforcement agencies are asking legislators to sustain funding levels in the Philando Castile Memorial Training Fund. The fund helps reimburse the cost of mandatory training in areas like de-escalation, use of force training, and autism awareness.

If a proposal to reduce the funding over the next couple of years goes through, Wallen said, “There’s going to be a significant cut in training dollars.”

Wallen said he was asked to testify at the state Capitol, as a member of the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association executive board.

“They were looking for someone from rural Minnesota,” he said. “I think it’s good to have our voices heard.”

Since 2018, the Philando Castile Memorial Training Fund has helped reimburse the cost of mandatory law enforcement training in a variety of areas, Wallen said.

“It’s never been enough to cover everything 100%,” Wallen said. But a proposal to reduce the funds over the next couple of years would have a significant impact on agencies like the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, he said. Wallen said funding reimbursements could go down from about $900 per officer in the Sheriff’s Office, to about $90 per officer.

If funds are more limited, “What’s going to suffer is, trainings that are individual to a particular area,” Wallen said.

Wallen said last week was his first time giving testimony to a state legislative committee.

“I thought it was a good experience, to at least highlight what our concerns are,” Wallen said.