11/24/2025
I'm filling a complaint with the internal affairs department about our local New Ulm Police Departments vehicles not following Minnesota Statute 169.98 Subdivision 1, section 1(b) as currently most of the New Ulm Police Department's fleet of patrol vehicles are not legally marked per this Minnesota Statute regarding marked and unmarked Police vehicles.
As you can clearly see from my posted picture the vehicle that is one of the older in the fleet does meet that Statute 169.98 guidelines but the vehicles that are Black With Dark Grey writing down the side do not meet the Statute guidelines. It clearly says in the Statute that the vehicles are supposed to be marked with contrasting colors so they're easily identifiable because should someone be in need of help but in a dark area they couldn't easily tell that these vehicles that New Ulm Police have with the Black bodies and Dark Grey lettering as being an emergency vehicle. That's the whole point behind this Statute is so citizens can easily tell who to flag down for help if they needed to do so. I spoke with commander Barstead about this issue and he wasn't even aware that there was a Statute related to how Police Departments are allowed to mark their Police vehicles, I'm next going to take it up with the chief of Police but I'm also already in contact with the department of internal affairs regarding some of the conduct and actions of the New Ulm Police Department and this is just another issue. They basically wasted $40,000 in tax payer money to get their cars logoed illegally so they can be sneaky and write more tickets, well now their going to have to spend another $40,000 to get these vehicles re-logoed properly per the Minnesota Statute 169.98
Really I don't know why they changed from the Black, White, Red, and Blue that clearly can be noticed in a dark area as a Police vehicle.
