- Home
- Your Government
- Attorney
Attorney
Duties
The county attorney is the chief prosecutor for crimes which occur within the county. The county attorney is also the legal adviser for the Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners and county departments.
About the County Attorney
On August 12, 2025, the Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to appoint Kelsey Hopps as the next County Attorney. Prior to her appointment, Kelsey had served as Assistant Crow Wing County Attorney since March of 2018. She worked as an intern in the office from 2013-2016, at which point she took a job as a judicial law clerk from 2016 to 2018. Kelsey spent much of her childhood in Crow Wing County and is following in her grandfather Glen Gustafson’s footsteps by working as an attorney in the Brainerd Lakes Area.
Schooling
Schooling - Kelsey has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice from St. Cloud State University and a Law Degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.
Community Involvement
Ensuring the safety and well-being of every resident in Crow Wing County, as well as being an active member in the community are some of Kelsey’s highest priorities. Kelsey serves on numerous committees, boards and task related teams in the community. Kelsey is also very involved in her local church.
The Crow Wing County Attorney’s Office is proud to be a member of the BLADE and Opioid Coalition.
BLADE’S MISSION AND GOALS
BLADE was developed to establish greater unity between law enforcement, courts, schools, substance use treatment centers, and other community resources. Our purpose has been to engage, advocate, inform, and bring awareness of substance use issues throughout Crow Wing County. Through education, prevention, enforcement, and treatment, we work together to build a healthy, safe, and drug-free community.
BLADE has two goals: reducing youth substance use and increasing community collaboration in Crow Wing County. We are a collaborative of members representing schools, youth-serving organizations, parents, youth, law enforcement, religious and fraternal organizations, businesses, the recovery community, and media all working together to achieve these goals.
Primary Strategies that BLADE has identified in our communities:
- Prevention Strategy for School Education, Training, and Secondary Prevention Focused on Children and Families.
- Justice System-Based Strategy for Treatment, Recovery and Post Incarceration Programs
- Harm Reduction Strategy for Family Support Services
- Treatment and Recovery Strategy for Parental/Families Substance Abuse
DFC Grant Recipients
In 2023, the BLADE Coalition was awarded a 5-year Drug Free Communities Grant which is funded through opioid settlements. Last year, BLADE distributed $200,000 in grants in our communities to help with the effects of the opioid epidemic.13 organizations were awarded funding that was used in three different categories:
- Expanding capacity of programs targeting families impacted by substance use disorder, with a focus on increasing reunification rates and safe placement options, or providing focused education and outreach for children in foster care whose primary reason for placement is parental substance abuse.
- Funding and support for schools to be trained on implementation of curriculum, such as adverse childhood experiences; healthy, positive outcomes; substance use disorders; and positive community norms, or to integrate targeted outreach within existing school departments focused on high-risk priority groups and vulnerable families.
- Integration and strengthening of services and treatment of substance use disorder, mental health and primary care throughout the criminal justice system.
https://www.facebook.com/BLADEBrainerdLakes/