Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0Who polices Knife River, and what they report
Knife River has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Lake County. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Knife River alone, and no Safety Grade.
What stands out about safety in Knife River
Policed by the county
Knife River is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Lake County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Lake County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Knife River. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest Minnesota towns with their own police figures are Two Harbors (A, 8 mi), Duluth (C−, 20 mi), Hermantown (C, 24 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Knife River. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Lake County Sheriff’s Office reports
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Lake County without police of their own, which include Knife River.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
The nearest Minnesota towns with a Safety Grade
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two Harbors | A | 8 mi | 0.5 | 3.2 |
| Duluth | C− | 20 mi | 2.4 | 29.7 |
| Hermantown | C | 24 mi | 0.7 | 24.1 |
| Proctor | B+ | 25 mi | 0.9 | 7.5 |
| Silver Bay | A | 34 mi | 0.9 | 1.5 |
| Cloquet | B | 37 mi | 1.9 | 5.9 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Knife River. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Knife River.
No one died in a crash on Knife River’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for Minnesota towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (4.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Knife River’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Knife River’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Knife River and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duluth Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Duluth Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Knife River
Is Knife River, MN safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Knife River. Knife River has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Lake County. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Knife River alone, and no Safety Grade. The nearest Minnesota towns with a grade are Two Harbors (A, 8 mi), Duluth (C−, 20 mi), Hermantown (C, 24 mi).
Who polices Knife River?
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office. Knife River is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Lake County without police of their own.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Knife River.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.