Clay County Commission

Dan Haglund

The number of probation felony cases rose 77 percent from 753 to 1,333 in the last five years, as presented to the Clay County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday in Moorhead.
Dale Arnold, Clay County Corrections district supervisor, broke down the numbers during the Department of Corrections/Probation’s annual report.
Arnold noted that the county has experienced a population increase of about 1,000 during this period, which does not nearly keep up with the crime increases. He mentioned that Cass County across the river in North Dakota has increased by about 17,000 during the same period.
“You can probably guess that some of the data is a response to the pandemic since 2020, staffing for the Sheriff’s Department, the Police Department and things like that,” Arnold said.
Nationally since 2020, according to the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there has been a notable increase in violent crime, with some data indicating a 37 percent increase in violent crime offenses by 2023, although some reports also show a decline in certain types of violent crime in recent years.
As the total number of Clay probation felony cases rose from 753 to 1,333 from 2020 to 2024, the number of probation gross misdemeanors cases also rose from 144 to 226, and probation misdemeanor cases up from 138 to 228.
The specific increases during that time are domestic assaults, which have more than doubled (196 to 401), burglaries have nearly doubled (55 to 101), as have DWIs (88 to 160) and thefts (116 to 203).
The number of escapes/flights from justice have also more than doubled since 2020, from 57 to 127.
Assaults have also increased, from 151 to 220, as have drug cases (321 to 467).
Harassment/stalking convictions have risen from 21 to 40, property damage (34 to 57).
“You can see it’s progressing in every category,” Arnold said.
Another category of note Arnold mentioned is that there are 109 homeless people under the “open clients” category of pre-sentence investigations, divided between the city and county.
As far as transfers out of state, and most of those being transferred to North Dakota, Arnold showed 51 individuals (one juvenile) in 2020 and 167 (13 juveniles) in 2024.
With recidivism success, Clay County shines best with the percent of individuals who remain felony-free three years after release (87.6 percent), while the statewide average is just 70 percent. At the six-month (94.5 percent) and 12-month (91.7 percent) marks, Clay’s recidivism rates run nearly the same as the statewide rates.
Former Moorhead Police Chief David Ebinger, who is now a commissioner out of District 5, said he has a theory about these recidivism rates in Clay County.
“I know that the Department of Corrections moving towards a community role in incarceration of prisoners,” Ebinger said. “I’m sure they’re using the same standards when they release them that determine if they need ISR (Intensive Supervised Release) or not, there’s going to be more people being released that traditionally would be maintained in the prisons.”