Public safety grant frees up funds

News that the police department secured a $110,000 grant to pay for a DWI enforcement officer came as welcome relief to Cloquet city officials Tuesday.

Not only will it bring an increased focus on driving-while-impaired arrests and education, police chief Derek Randall said they will fill the position with a current officer, so city funds allocated to pay that salary and benefits will be freed up for other uses.

That could mean purchasing police body cameras — which were discussed, but didn’t make the budget — or replacing the department’s stun guns more quickly than the roughly two per year a...