Leann Wallin ‘Retires’ from the MPD

Leann Wallin, MPD’s community policing coordinator, is the first of three leaving the department this winter. Deputy chief Tory Jacobson (left) plans to retire on Feb. 28, and Chief Shannon Monroe on March 28.

MPD community policing coordinator Leann Wallin and her husband, Fire Chief Jeff Wallin.

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

She has worn no uniform. Carried no badge. But when Leann Wallin “retired” last week, she may have been the most widely known employee of the Moorhead Police Department. “Yes, I’m ‘retiring,’” Leann told well-wishers at her “retirement” party last week. But she enclosed that R-word in air quotes, for her working days are not exactly over.
While retirements are a hot topic at the Moorhead Police Department – with both Chief Shannon Monroe and Deputy Chief Tory Jacobson signing off in coming months – Leann’s departure comes with quotation marks around it. Though she’s served as the MPD’s community policing coordinator for 15 of her 30 years with the city, she confesses that she’s moving to a job in the private sector rather than choosing a life of ease. “I’m proud of the work I’ve done, but I’m ready for a job where I can walk out at 5 and not think about it until 8 the next morning,” she says.
As a civilian member of the department, Leann’s has been the friendly public face that has built close connections between law enforcement officers and the community they serve.. As the MPD’s community policing coordinator, she has represented the department in all kinds of settings beyond the Law Enforcement Center.
She has worked with the MPD’s Police Volunteers program, managing the 25-member force of civilians who multiply officers’ outreach by enforcing parking regulations, controlling traffic at public events, checking the homes of residents who are traveling, and helping in the department’s records division. “I love our volunteers,” she says. “They’re the very best part of this job.”
Of course, there’s much more. Leann has organized 14 Nights to Unite, the every-August neighborhood events where neighbors get to know each other and their city. (The pandemic year, of course, was the exception.) She’s managed 13 annual Citizens Police Academies, each designed to introduce 24 civilians to officers’ duties and challenges beyond the public eye. She represented the MPD on Valley Triad, the FM area organization focusing on senior safety. She was part of the team that supervised Moorhead’s school resource officers. And she spent much of her time working with landlords and property managers in the Crime-Free Multi-Unit Housing Program.
“These have been rewarding years for me,” she reflects. “I’ve been fortunate to work alongside a great administration and all the hard-working men and women of this department. I could never do the work of our police officers, but I’ve done my best to support their work and be a resource for our community.”
Raised on a farm near Crookston, Minnesota, Leann went to work as a legal secretary for Cahill, Maring and Marquardt after graduating from St. Cloud Business College. She joined the city staff in 1995 as an office specialist in the Engineering Department. “I truly enjoyed my years there,” she reflects. “But when a posting for the community policing coordinator cam across my desk in 2010, it just really spoke to me.” She met the incumbent, Nancy Taralson, for lunch. “After hearing more about it, I knew it would be a new challenge, so I applied.”
It was a dramatic change. “This position is all about partnerships and problem solving,” she says. But after exactly four days of training, (“taking notes like crazy,” she remembers), there was still a lot to learn.
She credits the 2010 Citizens Police Academy, which she was tasked with facilitating, with providing her with the same eye-opening education that hundreds of participants have experienced. “This is a bit of a different world,” she says, adding that she took every opportunity that she was offered during the academy “except being tazed.”
She muses, “I learned so much, and it certainly changed me. Like the rest of people here in Moorhead, I’d always had that good feeling that comes from living in a safe community. We do … but it’s a huge credit to our department and our police officers that we can feel that way.
“The reality is that our officers are out there dealing with a lot of stuff that the general public doesn’t know about. We can feel as safe as we do, oftentimes, because our officers have intervened. They’re out there dealing with a great deal of stuff that the general public never knows about.”
Leann and her husband, Fire Chief Jeff Wallin, have two children. Daughter Sierra, who lives in Detroit Lakes, has worked as a CNA since she was 16. Now 24, she is studying to become a medical surgical technician. Son Alex, 22, graduated from the North Dakota State College of Science in information technology; he’s employed by Winsupply in Fargo.
The MPD is still accepting applications for Leann’s replacement. “It’s not an entry-level position,” she emphasizes. “They’re looking for someone with experience running programs, managing resources, planning events, writing grants … and preferably working with volunteers.”
She adds, “I leave with my head held high, knowing I have given everything to this department and the city of Moorhead.”

Comments are closed.

  • [Advertisement.]
  • Facebook