Sergeant Scott Kostohryz of the Moorhead Police Department was named Minnesota Law Officer of the Year by the Minnesota American Legion.
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
Over 20 years with the Moorhead Police Department, Scott Kostohryz has done it all, from bike patrol to being assigned to SWAT. He has been a patrol sergeant for 11 years, heading one of the two five-person day-shift teams. He supervises the school resource officers and trains his colleagues in defensive tactics and the use of force.
But chances are good that when the Minnesota American Legion named him Minnesota Law Officer of the Year earlier this month, they were also looking well beyond the hours he spends on duty.
Kostohryz is a guiding link in the MPD’s connection to their community. As a founder of the Police Athletic and Activities League, as a founder of the department’s Explorer post, as a leader of the Department of Justice-funded summer youth mentoring program, he dedicates countless off-duty hours to building relationships between cops and kids – a role he relishes and deeply values.
“It’s as important for our officers to see members of the community in positive settings as it is for the community to see cops positively,” he says, explaining his career-long dedication to building those relationships. “On duty, we see them, and they see us, on the worst day of their lives. We need to let kids, and adults for that matter, know that we’re people, too – show them how much we care about this place where we live and work.
“When we spend time together, it’s a win-win situation for all of us.”
The sergeant was nominated by Chief Shannon Monroe through Moorhead Post 21. The statewide award bestowed each year at the Legion’s Department of Minnesota convention, held July 12-15 in Redwood Falls. The award honors officers who not only serve their communities in a professional capacity, but go above and beyond the call of duty. He is the only MPD officer to date who has won the award; the late Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist received it a dozen years ago.
A native of Blaine, Minnesota, Kostohryz once dreamed of becoming a pilot. That changed, though, when the teen-ager got a chance for a ride-along with a police officer. “I knew right away – ‘that’s for me,’” he says now. “I just knew.”
He joined the local Police Explorers post, then attended the law enforcement program at Alexandria Technical College. Fresh out of school, he applied for every police job opening in the state. “That was almost 25 years ago. In those days, every department could count on 200 or 300 applications,” he says. “I took the first job offer I got, in Mankato.
“But I married a North Dakota girl, and she wanted to be closer to home,” he continues. “After four years, I found this job in Moorhead.” He laughs. “It was as close as I could get but still keep my pension.” Now celebrating 23 years of their union, he and Heather have two sons and a daughter, the eldest in his second year at the U.S. Naval Academy and the younger two attending Moorhead High School.
Kostohryz got involved with Moorhead youth just six months after joining the department. He and two former colleagues – Joel Voxland, now Barnesville police chief, and Chris Martin, Clay County chief deputy – formed the Moorhead Police Explorers Post, an affiliate of Boy Scouts of America. Aimed at young men and women from 16 to 20, it introduces them to some of the same training adult officers complete. “Explorers give us a chance to show them what law enforcement is really like,” he explains. The program’s enrollment has varied from a high of 24 to six today. “We used to have so many apply that we had to turn some away. Like law enforcement, there isn’t as much interest now,” he concedes. “We hope to see it pick up. We need good cops. We like to find home-grown talent.” Dozens of past Explorers have become officers over 20 years, including at least a dozen here in Moorhead.
The annual Cops vs. Kids Hockey Game, the friendly matches that have pitted young Spuds against the men in blue, attracted his attention, too. Nearly 400 kids have taken part since the first game in 2007.
Those enjoyable matches – often won by the teens – helped inspire the Police Athletics and Activities League he helped form in 2018. Incorporated as an independent nonprofit, PAL brings off-duty cops together with youth to build relationships while having fun together. The Explorers post now falls under that umbrella, along with hockey. Six years ago, a baseball game matching cops against kids was added to the calendar. The next is scheduled Aug. 18 at Bucky Burgau Field. Police volunteers are also involved in the Pitch Hit Run competition that was held Monday. Winners in the contest, affiliated with Major League Baseball, can advance to competitions in Major League ball parks leading to the World Series itself.
PAL has developed other programs, too. At Christmas, officers accompany at-risk youngsters to buy gifts for their families; they call it “Shop with a Cop.”
A new project this year, the Summer Youth Program has been bringing MPD volunteers together with a dozen 14- to 17-year-olds for weekly sessions that combine mentoring with cross-fit training at EHP Fitness. Some of the teens with no other source of transportation have attended sessions aboard bicycles presented to them by PAL – some of the 50 bikes the group has so far handed out.
“PAL relies on the support and generosity of our whole department,” Kostohryz emphasizes. “That includes the chief and all the officers who take part in our programs.
“What makes this work is all the off-duty hours our officers freely give to get to know these kids. They’re making a difference.”
Reflecting on his many years of connecting with Moorhead teens and their families, Kostohryz has nothing but smiles. “I love what I’m doing,” the 2023 Law Officer of the Year asserts. “My goal is to make PAL sustainable so that when I eventually leave, it will keep going, full speed ahead.
“Now, though? I’m just happy. Life is good.”
