North Dakotans need to hear the message coming from their ‘top cop’
North Dakota’s Attorney General Drew Wrigley gets it. Whether it’s in response to deadly attacks on law enforcement officers, or attempting to address a faulty correctional system, Wrigley has a knack for being on point and fighting for the interests of law abiding North Dakotans.
Earlier this week, Wrigley held an end of the year press conference to highlight North Dakota’s annual crime report release. The report covered 2024 crime trends in detail.
North Dakota, like much of the country, is experiencing a reprieve from the explosion of crime that most states felt in the early part of this decade. Case in point: The overall crime rate decreased in North Dakota between 2023 and 2024 by 8.6%.
Wrigley could run to the podium and take credit for this drop during what was his first full year in office. But he gets it and is determined to keep us on task — yes, crime is down compared to recent spikes, but crime in North Dakota (especially violent crime) remains far higher than it has historically been. Wrigley asks, do we really accept this as our new normal?
“What we have now is a plateau at a very high level of violent crime in the state of North Dakota. The question I believe each North Dakotan really needs to ask themselves about this new normal — and that’s what it is, it’s the new normal — is: Are we helpless, and is it acceptable?”
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley
Consider this: In 2004, North Dakota’s violent crime rate (murder, aggravated assault, robbery, and rape) was 583/100,000 residents. In 2024, despite a technically accurate “drop” from 2023, violent crime in North Dakota stood at 1918/100,000 residents. This represents a 165% increase in 20 years; something we cannot allow to become our “new normal.”
North Dakotans have a choice in 2026 and beyond — continue down a path of accepting a “new normal” or get behind efforts to strengthen a criminal justice system’s resolve that values the rights of law-abiding citizens over those of repeat offenders.
The social justice movement that has poisoned far too many cities and states in our nation needs to be checked. North Dakota is as good a place as any to make that happen.