Farmington Feed: New Employee Speed Round PD Edition
This is the Farmington Feed, bringing you information from the city of Farmington.
Caryn:Hi, and welcome back to the Farmington Feed. I'm Caryn Hojnicki, the city's communications specialist, and I'm hungry for another episode of the Feed. We have 3 special guests with us today, and we're introducing some of our Farmington faces from the police department in our new employee speed round. Round 1, and we're gonna start with officer Max Theirl. Welcome.
Max:Hey. Thanks for having me.
Caryn:Yeah. So let's get into it. My first question is, when did you realize you wanted to become a police officer?
Max:Great question. I would say there wasn't really an exact moment in my life where I was like, this is what I wanna do. But I think just a matter of circumstances, everything kinda added up, created the passion to get involved in the career field. And so I think throughout high school, I kinda just started looking into that.
Caryn:Okay. Yeah. So in high school, that's nice to, like, have an idea. I had no idea when I was in high school. So how long have you been working in law enforcement?
Max:Little over 2 years.
Caryn:Okay. Was that all with Farmington then?
Max:No. I started at a different department for about 8 months and then came over to Farmington.
Caryn:Awesome. So what is your favorite part of the job?
Max:That every day is different.
Caryn:For sure. Right? For example, what's what's the day like?
Max:You know, I mean, some days you come in and, you know, you'll do briefing right away and then you'll eat dinner. And then you drive around, you can kinda be proactive, do what you want. Other days, you come in and immediately, you got a crazy call to go to. And then that's the first four hours of your shift. And then it's like, oh, man.
Max:I haven't even eaten yet. You know?
Caryn:Right. So you're you said eat dinner. That means you work nights? Yes. Okay.
Caryn:What do you like most about working nights?
Max:Things get interesting at night. It's definitely it's a big change in environment from the day to day that most people are used to of they wake up, the sun's rising. Like, right now in the winter Mhmm. I do not see the sunlight during my work shift.
Caryn:So it's like sure because it gets started so early. Yeah. It's already dark before you're coming in.
Max:Adjusting to that is pretty entertaining, but at the same time, like, yeah, it's it's a lot of fun, especially when he had a young crew like I got on nights. So
Caryn:Yeah. Is there any information that you think is most important for residents to know about what you guys do every day?
Max:Information, I guess, just being safe. All of us are, you know, driving really fast with our lights on somewhere. Obviously, something's going on and, like, if, you know, for
Caryn:people are nosy about it.
Max:And I think that's where some people not that they're necessarily wrong to be curious because we all are.
Caryn:Right.
Max:But I think at times, like, it's they're putting themselves in risk
Caryn:Mhmm.
Max:When, you know, we're all staged somewhere at a building and, you know, we're all set up in our perimeter and all of a sudden everyone's wandering towards us. It's like we don't know if they're involved in, you know, whatever incident may be going on. We don't know what's going on for them, but they're also putting themselves in possible harm's way.
Caryn:Mhmm.
Max:I think it's just, at times, it needs to be a safety understanding that, like, if they're doing their job, they're doing their job. You know? That's my concern, I guess, with it at times.
Caryn:And then when the public needs to know about something going on, it'll be
Max:Absolutely.
Caryn:Communicated out. So, you know, yeah, you can be curious, but
Max:Exactly.
Caryn:Don't slow down traffic for it or anything like that.
Max:You know? Yeah. Don't cause another accident if you're rolling past an accident kind of thing.
Caryn:For sure. Now I like to ask this question. I like to know what's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you on the job.
Max:On my shift, we definitely have a lot of laughs and everything. I but I wouldn't say there's really been, like, a call that's had me completely, like, belly laughing, you know?
Caryn:Yeah. But yeah. Well, because most of the time, it's serious.
Max:Yeah. And that's part of it. But, I mean, I'm sure there's stuff that, like, after the fact, looking back, I'm like, oh, that was kinda funny.
Caryn:Yeah. For sure. Let's get a little serious for a minute.
Max:Yeah.
Caryn:Can you let us know who's inspired you most in your career so far?
Max:I think throughout my career, like, my parents have been really supportive of me. Mhmm. And I think that's inspired me to do well. And then, obviously, like, within the department, we're obviously a little bit of a smaller department than some. Mhmm.
Max:But just my team. Like, I I work with the team, and we all just kinda bounce ideas off each other, and we really work well. They help me and, you know, hopefully, they'd say the same that I helped them do better at the job every day and
Caryn:For sure.
Max:Wanna do well.
Caryn:Right.
Caryn:And it makes it better to go to work and
Max:Absolutely.
Caryn:Deal with the stuff that you have to deal with because it's not always fun.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Caryn:you have people supporting you?
Max:Absolutely. And we you know, we've got a great sergeant that you know, he's real supportive of all of us working together, and he's really knowledgeable too. So it's awesome.
Caryn:Yeah. You're learning a lot.
Max:Absolutely.
Caryn:Alright. Well, that's what it's about. Right?
Max:Yeah.
Caryn:Well, thank you, Max. It's been great to get to know you a little bit on our new employee speed around. So Yeah.
Caryn:And we hope to see you around soon for good reason, not if we're in trouble. Right?
Max:Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I'll see you around.
Caryn:We will be back in a moment for round 2 of the new employee speed round. Round 2 will be with officer Dalton Vickery and officer August Kewitsch.
Caryn:Hi. And welcome, Dalton and August.
Dalton:Hello. Hello.
Caryn:So, we got a couple more new officers. I know you don't feel very new because it's been a little bit, but this is the first chance we've had to get you guys on the episode. So my first question is, when did you realize you wanted to become a police officer? So, Dalton, how about you go first?
Dalton:So I was in the Army National Guard for 7 years. And in my time in the Guard, I realized I wanna be a police officer. So when I got out of the Guard, I went back to school and became a cop.
Caryn:Awesome. Where did you go to get that certification?
Dalton:I went to Rasmussen.
Caryn:Okay. August, how about you?
August:I'd say I've kinda always wanted to be a cop, I guess. And especially in high school, I ran track and my hurdle coach. She ran all the criminal justice classes and stuff like that.
Caryn:Oh, at school?
August:Mhmm.
Caryn:Okay.
August:And I took interest because it was somebody that I knew, and I enjoyed all the classes. So just kinda made sense.
Caryn:Yeah. Awesome. So how long have you been working in law enforcement?
Dalton:I have been in law enforcement for a total of almost 2 years. I was with the city of Lakeville for 7 months, and I've been with Farmington for just over a year.
Caryn:Alright. Well, welcome. And August, how about you?
Dalton:I started here. So I've been with Farmington for about a year and 2 months now.
Caryn:Okay. And so let's talk about, your favorite part of your job. Dalton, how about you?
Dalton:I would say my favorite part of the job, I enjoy doing traffic, traffic enforcement, things like that, doing traffic stops. And along with that, just the variety that we deal with. No 2 days that we come to work are the same, and I enjoy that about this job.
Caryn:Oh, for sure, Max said that too. Yeah. No day is the same. How about you, August?
August:I was gonna say that, but he stole it. But I especially I don't like sitting at a desk.
Caryn:Mhmm.
August:So it's nice to I mean, people say our car is the desk. So it's kind of the same. We're always sitting somewhere. But
Caryn:Well, and you do have a computer in there as well?
August:Yes. Mhmm. I suppose. But I just like getting around.
Caryn:Yeah.
August:Moving around and we have fun.
Caryn:Yeah. And you already knew the city pretty well because you grew up here. Right?
August:Yeah.
Caryn:How about you, Dalton?
Dalton:I did not.
Caryn:You did not. Okay.
Dalton:Farmington's kind of a a monster when it comes to geography. So
Caryn:Yeah. I feel like a lot of the newer, subdivisions have all these crazy road names and curves and it's like I've, where are we going? Which way am I?
August:It used to be simple. It was trees and then 1 through 13, and now they're adding all these weird names.
Dalton:Yeah. Right?
Caryn:For sure. Oh, speaking of not sitting at a desk, you got to do safety camp, didn't you, August?
August:I did. Yes.
Caryn:And did you enjoy that?
Dalton:That was a wonderful time.
Caryn:Those kids were, like, so excited to see the squad car for sure. And, like, sit in and
August:Yep.
Caryn:Like, learn about everything that you're doing. I'm sure they wanted to touch a lot of stuff that they couldn't.
August:I made sure to turn the radio off so they weren't messing with anything.
Caryn:But that's, like, a fun little thing you get to do. And, like, Toys for Town and other community engagement events that you know, Farmington PD has. Dalton, which ones have you been involved with so far?
Dalton:So I haven't really been involved in much community engagement yet.
Caryn:Oh, well, you're working nights. Right?
Dalton:Yeah.
Caryn:Yeah. So So it makes it hard.
Dalton:Yeah. I do, I do a lot of other stuff outside of that. I do, like, all of our armory stuff. So all of our
Caryn:Oh, what is that?
Dalton:Stuff. So, like, our handgun maintenance and stuff like that, I do that, along with, like, other supplemental stuff. So, August is better at the community engagement stuff than I am anyway. So
Caryn:Yeah. Why do you say that?
Dalton:He likes to talk to people. He's good at it.
Caryn:Do you? Do you? Okay.
August:Part of the reason I got in the job. Deal with people every day.
Caryn:You started talking to people. Well, maybe I should be a police officer.
August:Mhmm.
Caryn:Okay. Is there any information you think that is most important for residents to know about what you guys are doing?
Dalton:We do a lot more than, than what most people realize, I think.
Caryn:Mhmm.
Dalton:Our job consists a lot more of a lot more than just taking people to jail and arresting people.
Caryn:Right.
Dalton:We deal with a lot of medicals and mental health crisis. Yeah. We deal with a lot of that. And I think that if I could have people understand one thing about what we do is that our job is very vast. We don't just deal in one one set of, problems that people have, but we respond to a lot of different things.
Caryn:And a lot of the mental health issues have risen recently too and and how we're dealing with them. But we're talking about them more, and that's hopefully helping as well. Right?
Dalton:Absolutely.
Caryn:Who has inspired you most in your career? August, let's start with you this time.
August:Oh, boy.
Caryn:I know it's not been a very long one, but I'm sure there's been some inspiration happening.
August:I'd say my dad's one of them.
Caryn:Yeah.
August:He always knows what he's doing and he gets things done. He's always confident and it always kinda showed me that if you present yourself that way and you kinda act that way, then that's how you're gonna be.
Caryn:Yeah. Do you how about you, Dalton?
Dalton:There's been a lot of people that have been inspirational to me. I found a lot of inspiration. Like I mentioned earlier, my time in the guard
Caryn:Yeah.
Dalton:Kinda helped me build a work ethic and understand, you know, the organization structure. It obviously isn't exactly the same Mhmm. As working in a police department. But since I've been in law enforcement, I had a lot of really good people I worked with at Lakeville PD that taught me a lot of things, and everybody at Farmington has been awesome. Yeah.
Dalton:All the officers that are, you know, more senior than I am and all of our sergeants and admin are are super good. And I've learned a lot since we've, well, I think we both have learned a lot since we've been here. And
Caryn:And you guys started around the same time. Right?
Dalton:Yep.
Caryn:Okay.
August:Yep. Started a day before me.
Caryn:Yep. Oh So he's got seniority
August:He's got 8 hours on me.
Caryn:Yeah. I mean, they have to do that. Right? Somebody has to be before. Can't start exactly at the same time. Right?
August:Someone's gotta be better. Yeah.
Caryn:But you mentioned that everybody has been great. Like, that's what they talk about. Everybody that's been on this podcast from PD is talked about family. I mean, can you guys say, like, you feel like it's your family?
August:Mhmm.
Dalton:Yeah. We're we're very lucky. You know, Farmington's a smaller department, but we're we're fairly busy for the size of the department that we are.
Caryn:Right.
Dalton:But we're really lucky. Our partners are really good, and, you you know, I don't ever have to wonder if my partner's got my back.
Caryn:You just know
Dalton:Right. Yeah. They're always gonna be there for them and or for us, and, hopefully, they feel that way about us.
Caryn:Oh, for sure. Well, that's about it for our new employee speed round. Just getting to know you guys a little bit better. Hopefully, I see you around for good reasons. Not bad.
Caryn:Yeah. And maybe you can make it to one of those community engagement things when you're off the night shift.
Dalton:Yeah. Hopefully. Yeah. Right.
Caryn:Will you be at wrapping day August?
August:Do we work that day?
Dalton:I don't know.
Dalton:Must have to look.
August:Probably. Even if we don't work, I'll probably do it.
Caryn:I think you went last year, didn't you? Yes. Okay. Okay.
August:I handed out all the food.
Caryn:Did you? Mhmm. Okay. It's a it's a long long day for sure, but what a great event and, such a great thing for our community and to help out everyone. So thank you again for coming.
August:Thanks for having us.
Dalton:Yes. Absolutely. Thank you.
Caryn:I enjoyed talking to you, and hopefully, we'll talk some more. Before I wrap up today's episode, I wanna share a few things. Remember, this is toys for town season, and it's one of the biggest community events organized by the police department that we talked about earlier. Please join them in supporting our community.
Caryn:There are various ways to support. Donate a toy, donate your time, or donate treasure, which is a monetary donation. You can show up on wrapping day to wrap presents. You can donate toys at the police department and local businesses. Monetary donations are taken at the police department Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4:30 PM.
Caryn:If you have any questions, you can always call the police department Toys for Town line at 651-280-6Toy or just email Toys4Town@FarmingtonMN.gov. Well, that concludes this month's episode of the Farmington Feed. Thank you for listening. We look forward to connecting with residents with this podcast. If you have any feedback, guest requests, or ideas, email me at Communications@FarmingtonMN.gov
Caryn:Don't forget to subscribe to the Farmington feed wherever you like to get your podcasts.
