August 2025 – Officer Griego of Moorhead Police Department
It is with great pleasure that the Moorhead Police Department nominates Officer Shawn Griego as the Luther Family Ford’s August 2025 Salute to Law Enforcement recipient. Officer Griego has been a police officer since September of 2001, serving his entire career with the Moorhead Police Department. He joined the department following his graduation from the Law Enforcement Program at Fergus Falls Community College with an associate’s degree in criminal justice. Officer Griego earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Minnesota State University Moorhead later in his career.
During his nearly 24 years of service, Officer Griego has been assigned to the patrol division with additional duties as a Field Training Officer, Emergency Vehicle Operations Course Instructor and Peer Assistance Response Team member. During Officer Greigo’s 12 years as a Field Training Officer, he was directly responsible for training countless numbers of Probationary Police Officers. At one point during his tenure as an FTO, nearly two-thirds of the entire department had been trained by Shawn. These duties consisted of both group training settings and one-on-one month-long intensive training while working patrol shifts as partners. As an Emergency Vehicle Operation Course Instructor, for more than 10 years, Officer Griego was responsible for ensuring every sworn member of the department met the State of Minnesota and Moorhead Police Department training requirements. This consisted of both classroom academics and hands on vehicle operation training to demonstrate acceptable knowledge and experience standards for operating a patrol vehicle at high speeds and under elevated stress.
Early in Officer Griego’s career, he realized the nature of police work and the stress that could result has lasting effects on officers. However, there was very little focus on traumatic stress and coping techniques for law enforcement to process these types of critical incidents positively. When the Moorhead Police Department formed the Peer Assistance Response Team in 2008, Officer Griego volunteered to spreadhead this effort and is the last active founding member of the team today. The team members complete certified training to aid their peers who have been through significant traumatic events. He has responded to assist local area First Responders as well as regional partners. From incidents such as line of duty deaths, significant loss of life incidents or aiding first responders following emotionally traumatic incidents, Officer Griego has always answered the call to put his training and experience to work helping first responders in our region take those initial giant steps towards self-care and healing emotionally.
Officer Griego and his wife are proud to have raised two wonderful daughters and have been residents of Moorhead since 2001. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and cruising the lakes in his Mustang. He is often working on his family hobby farm or tending to his own gardening, to include a large and significant variety of catus plants. Not only is Shawn the most senior member of the patrol division, but he is also the only grandfather in the division! The Moorhead Police Department is grateful for the dedication Officer Greigo has shown and continues to show the citizens and his fellow first responders over his 23 years of service.
