MINOT, ND (KXNET) — Minot Chief of Police John Klug has been with the department for 30 years, and was promoted to his current position in February 2020. He has been on administrative leave since September due to allegations of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment, inconsistent discipline, and more. Documents pertaining to the investigation of Klug have just been released to the public. These include summaries of every person interviewed in the case, including the Chief. People he has worked with and was working with before his placement on leave have raised many concerns about his leadership as Chief of Police and how the morale of the department has declined since he was promoted. One of the main concerns people have had about Klug is him not following through with his promise to meet with everyone individually, which has led to some morale issues in the department. Klug simply said he believes he has fulfilled his promise. On a later date, he told the investigators that he believes he may have spoken to about 50% of the employees. The meetings he promised were supposed to happen in his first year as chief, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which is what he said was the reason he didn't meet with everyone at the time. He sent his team an email in March 2021 that read "This meeting was intended to take place last year, but… YOU KNOW…COVID HAPPENED! 😊” He then sent his team another email that June saying "I don’t think I OWE an explanation, but as I prepare to ramp up my efforts to start this meetings, I want to be 100% transparent in the “WHY” I haven’t met with many of you. To be clear, my Captains (your commanders) ALWAYS know what I am dealing with personally and professionally so they can help with answering questions if I am unavailable – don’t hesitate to ask them if I am not available.” Klug said he didn't know using capital letters constitutes yelling. Some officers said that Klug told them "You are all replaceable," but Captain Justin Sundheim said the comment was more like "no one is irreplaceable," because no one is above the mission of the team. A couple people cited comments like that as a reason the morale had gone down, and many others cited Klug not addressing the uniform policy they had spent hours working on, regarding beards and other things, as a reason morale had regressed. Chief Klug did admit that he messed up regarding the uniform policy. He said there were too many other fires for him to put out, and he did not realize the impact not addressing it would have on the organization. Documents released from Minot Police Chief John Klug investigation Many people have left the department in the time that Klug was Chief, but the main department that took a hit was dispatch, which lost 17 people since he was promoted. The issue with dispatch, however, may not have entirely gone back to Klug. Dispatcher Sean Christie said all 10 dispatchers working there in 2023 had a problem with their direct supervisor, PSAP leader Margaret Haugen. Christie described her as completely untrustworthy, and described a situation in which she allegedly broke an officer's confidentiality, telling others that the officer was pregnant even though she was asked not to say anything. The report does say people think she improved in the time since that incident. Klug says that in dispatch, they are trying to build the leads to take charge, and he said that firing everyone is not an option, so they have to learn how to work together. Some officers cited a general lack of accountability in the police department, and mentioned some officers not pulling their weight and letting cases pile up. One specific case the report looked at in depth was that of Officer Dan Batteiger. The report mentioned many issues arising with Batteiger, and people cited Klug's lack of a response as a prime example of him not disciplining officers properly. Batteiger was said to allegedly have slept with a domestic violence victim and lost 15.7 grams of heroin from a canine drug training kit. Klug said he couldn't prove that Batteiger stole or lost the drugs, which is why he didn't terminate him. He says Batteiger's mistake was not getting DEA approval for destroying the drug kit like he was supposed to. The report also mentioned Batteiger having issues with training his canine. Klug says he removed the canine from Batteiger and took his training privileges after the above incident so he can focus on his mental health. Batteiger was not suspended for the above incidents. The report says "Chief Klug said that all of Batteiger’s issues revolved around a period when he was having personal issues. He was getting divorced, and this resulted in Batteiger making some bad decisions. Once he was able to get a handle on his issues, after the canine investigation, Batteiger was on a path of returning to be a good police officer." Many officers called Klug out for not terminating Batteiger, including former officer Krysta Becker, who used to room with Batteiger. After the situation with the domestic violence victim, Batteiger moved out, and Becker stopped trying to work with him, according to the report. The report made no mention of Klug's take on Batteiger sleeping with the domestic violence victim. There was, however, another instance in which an underage cadet said she wanted to start dating Batteiger once she turned 18. Klug launched an internal investigation, but said he found nothing to suggest anything happened. Batteiger was also accused of recording people from the night shift as a spy for Klug, which he denied. To address the general concerns regarding discipline, Klug said no one has appealed any of his disciplinary measures or filed a grievance, and he stated that he has done the best he could. Many officers who were interviewed cited a lack of approachability on the part of Klug, comparing him to Chief Jason Olson before him, who they say was quite the opposite. Some people even said that Klug would move people's shifts around without asking them first. Former officer Aaron Moss, who was with the department for approximately 19 years, said that Chief Klug never provided his overall plan and vision for the department, and instead made changes without much of an explanation. Other people defended Klug, such as Lieutenant Shawn Wegner, who says the Chief is very approachable and has done several things to help officers struggling with their mental health. The investigation released today did not constitute any action, and what will happen as a result of this report remains to be seen. You can find the full report at https://minotnd.gov/855/Minot-Police-Department-Investigation-Li. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Today's Top Stories SIGN UP NOW