Three future officers are preparing to serve in the Moorhead Police Department through Minnesota’s ICPOET (Intensive Comprehensive Peace Officer Education and Training) Program. (From left) Stephanie Nolasco, Raswan Mohammod, supervising officer Sgt. Joe Brannan, and Aaron Broer. (Photo/Hanna Dufault.)

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

The Moorhead Police Department – chronically short of applicants, like most law enforcement agencies – is growing its own future officers, thanks to the Minnesota Legislature and the Intensive Comprehensive Peace Officer Education and Training program, better known as ICPOET.
The program was introduced in 2024 to increase the availability of candidates to fill openings in 35 Minnesota communities’ police departments, including Moorhead, where more than a dozen openings have plagued the intended roster of 64 sworn officers.
Two officers who completed that first year of accelerated training now serve on the force, according to Administrative Sgt. Joe Brannan, who’s the department’s recruitment officer. Now, renewed in March, Moorhead ICPOET is sponsoring a second cohort of three future officers – Stephanie Nolasco, Raswan Mohammod and Aaron Broer.
The three illustrate the program’s intended purpose: To bring mid-career and nontraditional students into the realm of law enforcement. It provides funding so that adults can afford to switch directions, says Brannan. “The state grants make it possible for them to leave home and family for eight weeks of training at Alexandria Technical College,” he explains. “It pays their salaries, training cost and living expenses.”
The intense, streamlined college program, he explains, covers the same topics and builds the same skills as Alexandria’s usual two-year degree program. After completing the course in July and being licensed by the state, they’ll return to Moorhead to grow that knowledge through practical application in the use of force, deescalation, firearms, defensive tactics, emergency vehicle operation, report-writing and criminal investigation.
Nolasco initially came to Fargo-Moorhead from Eagle Pass, Texas, to study nursing at North Dakota State University. She already knew the area; as a child, she migrated with her parents each summer as they came to hoe sugarbeets in the Crookston area.
“I was working toward becoming a certified nursing assistant, but it didn’t stick,” she says. “Growing up, I had watched police shows with my dad, and I always looked up to officers, so I switched.” After graduation, she applied to Moorhead’s ICPOET program. (Two- or four-year degrees are required to participate.)
Razwan Mohammod’s story is different. He was working for American Airlines’ Envoy affiliate at Hector Airport when he met Moorhead’s Lt. Laddie Bata at last year’s Night to Unite. “We just started talking,” the father of four remembers. “He told me about ICPOET.
“When I was only 10, I met some FBI agents. That’s what got me started in thinking about law enforcement. I applied, and I was accepted.”
Aaron Broer, too, had been thinking about law enforcement since he was 12 or so. “I ended up joining the military after high school, and that derailed my plans,” he recalls. After completing his service, he finished his associate’s degree in criminal justice through the American Military University’s online program.
Aaron had a head start in learning about ICPOET: His wife Erika was one of Moorhead’s first cohort and is now an MPD officer. “When the second round of grants opened up early this year, I was ready,” he says. Like his colleagues, he started at Alexandria in March and will complete the second stretch in mid-July.
Brannan says the on-site experience in Moorhead begins with the department’s Officers Academy. He explains, “We take that raw base of knowledge and fine-tune it to fit our internal expectations and policies. That’s best done locally. Our pursuit policy, for example, may be different from Brainerd’s or Brooklyn Center.”
After the academy wraps up in about three weeks, the new officers (still considered police cadets) move on to field training. “They’ll be paired with officers on the street and in the squad car for about four months,” Brannan says. “That’s where they’ll learn the city’s geography, radio operations, writing reports … but also how to handle difficult people and respond to different kinds of calls. As time goes on, they’ll do more and more of the work.”
After a final evaluation, they’ll be ready for sole patrol status.
ICPOET is one of the most efficient ways to fill openings on the police force. Brannan says, “Since numbers are down from traditional levels all over the region, we’re looking to increase our recruitment ability through other avenues, too.” Among them is the MPD’s own cadet program.
But ICPOET is an effective new way to “bring quality people to the table,” as he puts it, leaping over the hurdle of taking time off from a paying job to acquire training. It takes legwork to find candidates, he admits, but the advantages are a big deal.
“This program gives us a way to build a force that’s more reflective of our community,” he points out. “One of our goals is to increase the number of women in policing. We want to bring in people with different skills and backgrounds. Stephanie is bilingual. Razwan speaks Kurdish, Hindi, Pakistani and Farsi, in addition to English, and has a background in IT.
“All three of these people have skills and life experiences to offer. What each of them brings helps make law enforcement better.”
For more information on possible future ICPOET cohorts, contact Sgt. Joe Brannan. Text him at 701.219.5505; call 218.299.5233, or email joseph.brannan@moorheadmn.gov. An overview and application forms are also available at www.moorheadpolice.com.