WAITE PARK -- Waite Park is looking at providing another tool for officers to use when responding to disruptive situations.

The city is considering creating a new ordinance to prohibit disruptive intoxication.

Police Chief Dave Bentrud says this ordinance would allow officers to take a person who is under the influence and acting hostile towards an officer to jail rather than to a detoxification unit or a hospital which can put medical staff at risk.

They are loud or abusive, not in a public setting but more to the officer. Those kinds of scenarios where they are a potential to staff at the ER or detox that are not trained to deal with those disruptive persons.

Bentrud says the ordinance is not geared to public intoxication as that is not a crime, but rather prevents people under the influence of alcohol or drugs from acting out in an aggressive manner.

There has been a few situations where we brought someone to detox or the emergency room, only to have say St. Cloud police dispatched to either of those locations to deal with the same person we just brought there.

The ordinance would be similar to the ones established in St. Joseph and St. Cloud.

Bentrud says the ordinance would need to be approved by the city council before it can take effect.

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