St. Cloud Police Department Lieutenant Lori Ellering

Thank you for the kind and supportive messages you continue to send our law enforcement officers! We know that words can never do their remarkable service justice, but we know it is important to recognize them nonetheless. Today, I want to recognize a St. Cloud law enforcement officer who has been an asset to her department and community for over two decades.

Lieutenant Lori Ellering began her career with the St. Cloud Police Department in 1996. She worked her way up to Sergeant and now serves as a Lieutenant for Police Chief Blair Anderson. For the past 24 years, she has responded to crimes, led investigations, and worked missing persons and homicide cases with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. She has also made it a priority to build relationships within St. Cloud’s community.

 

 

Her service on the Community Crime Impact Team, the organization that puts on the Metro Citizens Police Academy (MCPA), is only one way in which she goes about forming these relationships. The MCPA, as its name suggests, offers citizens an eight week class to experience police training first hand. Participants have the opportunity to shoot police firearms, go to the police driving range, and even get tased – if they want to.. The Academy also hosts an Academy Alumni Association, and to date, several hundred residents have completed the program. As a part of the Community Crime Impact Team, Lieutenant Ellering also hosts Coffee with a Cop events in St. Cloud to give residents a chance to meet officers and build trust without any pressure.

 

 

Another way Lieutenant Ellering has helped build a bridge between officers and St. Cloud residents is her work towards the success of St. Cloud’s COP House since it opened in 2017. When the St. Cloud Public Safety Foundation and the St. Cloud Police Department’s Community Outpost Team received the L. Anthony Sutin Civic Imagination Award from the Department of Justice’s COPS Office, she said, “I think that the neatest thing about our Community OutPost is how we have truly incorporated the entire community into the plan and the service delivery. We all talk a lot about wellness in our daily lives, yet there is so much more to being ‘well’ in your neighborhood than just not getting robbed on your way home. Crime prevention and detection is a critical component to public safety, and that is the component that the police do very well. Our community can add to that: a safe place to play, education planning and adult education, legal assistance, healthcare services and so many other services and networks!” Three years later, her vision for St. Cloud’s COP House is being realized more fully every day, and she continues to stay involved with the project.

In addition to working for the St. Cloud Police Department full time, Lieutenant Ellering also serves on the board of Law Enforcement Labor Services, an organization devoted to ensuring representation, safety, and competitive compensation for its law enforcement members. And she has made it a priority to invest in the next generation by teaching as a Professor of Criminal Justice at St. Cloud State University.

Thank you, Lieutenant Ellering, for everything you do on and off the job to make St. Cloud the community it is today! We are looking forward to seeing what you do next.

Learn more about the Metro Citizens Police Academy here: https://www.ci.stcloud.mn.us/851/Metro-Citizens-Police-Academy

Learn more about Law Enforcement Labor Services here: https://lels.org/about-us/

 

In gratitude,

 

P.S. If you have a #ThankACop story to share or an officer to highlight, please email us at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!