(KNSI) – Brandon Silgjord took the oath of office to become the next Sartell Police Chief at Monday’s city council meeting in front of coworkers, family, and friends.
Silgjord was hired in March. He says the last three months transitioning to his new role allowed him to keep his children in a familiar school until summer vacation. It also gave him time to tie up loose ends at his last job.
He says, “I was a commander with the sheriff’s office in St. Louis County. There out of Duluth. And I had some big responsibilities up there too. So it was really nice to have the time to train in an interim commander for taking over my duties. Gave me some time to do that, as well as I would come down here almost once a week and try to tap into the department down here.”
He talked to KNSI News about the similarities and differences with his last job. Silgjord says Minnesota trains its law enforcement officers to transition between county and city forces seamlessly but not everything is the same.
He says, “In St. Louis County, there’s a lot of rural law enforcement, of course. 7,000 square miles of county law enforcement covering such a large geographic area versus coming to a tighter-knit community like this. So, there’s a big difference there. And I think even just the expectation of engagement with the community is more so here, which actually really excites me to be a part of that.”
Silgjord says he has been riding along with officers in the department to get a better handle on the force, its challenges, and to understand how its officers view the future.
Silgjord had a chance to represent the department in the Summerfest parade last weekend. He says looking back from the front of the parade at everyone participating and the great turnout from onlookers helped make being Sartell chief real and put what he calls an awesome responsibility into perspective.
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