Editing Nowthen, Minnesota (section)

==Law enforcement==
Historically the community did not have its own law enforcement agency and instead relied on the Anoka County Sheriff's Office. In 2011, the Sheriff’s Office asked the city to pay for non-emergency law enforcement services. The city council voted 3–2 to not do this, which led to the city only having emergency law enforcement as it chose not to establish its own police force.<ref>{{cite web|author=Baca, Maria Elena|url=https://www.startribune.com/police-services-are-left-out-of-nowthen-budget/135632848/?refresh=true|title=Police services are left out of Nowthen budget|newspaper=[[Minneapolis Star Tribune]]|date=2011-12-14|access-date=2020-05-13}}</ref> The department's request would have meant a 27% increase in property taxes.<ref>{{cite web|author=Curtis, Gilbert|url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2011/11/03/forced-to-choose-nowthen-police-taxes|title=Nowthen weighs the price of police after sheriff's ultimatum|work=[[Minnesota Public Radio]]|date=2011-11-03|access-date=2020-05-13}}</ref>

===First responders===
Nowthen built their first [[fire department]] in 2021. [[Ramsey, Minnesota|Ramsey]] wanted to charge Nowthen about $160,000 in administrative costs, the mayor thought that was too high. Nowthen will take a fire engine, tanker, rescue rig, hoses and other equipment from Ramsey and they also gain a fire station that they can now use. They will pay the city of [[St. Francis, Minnesota|St. Francis]] about $75,000 a year for the next three years to have the assistance chief, Dave Schmidt, oversee the startup and head the department.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tribune |first=Tim Harlow Star |title=Largely rural town of Nowthen now has its own fire department |url=https://www.startribune.com/largely-rural-town-of-nowthen-now-has-its-own-fire-department/600050833/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-06-23 |website=Star Tribune}}</ref>

They currently have 12 members working for the Fire Department, and are expecting eight more to join.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fire Department |url=https://www.cityofnowthen.com/fire-station-3 |access-date=2022-06-23 |website=City of Nowthen |language=en}}</ref>