Published by Forum Communications Echo Press on May 19, 2022.
An Alexandria police sergeant and a law enforcement graduate discussed the training and responsibilities of police officers on Friday, May 6, for the Echo Press "Talk of the Town" podcast.
Jack Anderson recently graduated from Alexandria Technical and Community College’s law enforcement program. He grew up living in Moorhead until eighth grade and finished his high school education in Perham.
Anderson chose to do his police training at Alexandria College for a variety of reasons.
“Some of it was cost, some of it was the location, but a lot of it was just the standard of training,” he said.
Anderson said he chose to become a police officer because, to him, it’s a fulfilling way to give back and help the community. Anderson took a job with the Moorhead Police Department following graduation.
Originally from Plymouth, Sergeant Brian Kakach has served the Alexandria community through the Alexandria Police Department for 15 years.
He initially studied at Bethel University, where he bounced around from major to major. Starting with psychology, then into communications and even social work. Ultimately, he realized his true passion lies in law enforcement, which he says encompasses everything he wanted to do.
After two years at Bethel, he transferred to Mankato State University and earned his bachelor's degree in law enforcement. Due to a competitive work field, Kakach began his career as a volunteer police reserve in Plymouth until finding full-time work in Crystal and then in Duluth.
After getting stranded on a lake while vacationing in Alexandria — a favorite childhood vacation spot — he was “rescued” by a water patrol deputy who mentioned that the city was hiring police officers, so Kakach applied.
“I got one of the positions about 15 years ago and loved it ever since,” he said.
Kakach and Anderson sat down with the Echo Press on May 6, to discuss the training, responsibilities and conflicts of being a police officer.
Q: In your time as a cop, what have you enjoyed the most?
Kakach: Just being out in the community and taking the calls. I originally thought I'd really be interested in traffic enforcement and the proactive stuff like drug interdiction. But ultimately, I just love being out in the community and seeing the issues and how we can solve them.
Q: When you first started, were there things you were nervous about, or maybe you didn't feel prepared?
Kakach: Yes and no. I knew that coming into it, I would have a lot of other people to learn from. Once you start with a police department, you're in a field training position with another officer in a squad car for three to six months. And you always have that person there with you. You slowly kind of build up to the job on your own. So there's a lot of training even after you get hired. We learn our resources. That's probably the biggest thing: knowing your resources; who can you talk to and ask what questions.
Anderson: Not a whole lot as far as anxious or nervous. I just want to uphold the standard of being a peace officer. I don't want to go on scene, twiddle my thumbs, and look like I have no idea what I'm doing. Somebody's looking at me to solve their issues. I'm meeting them on the worst day they'll have in a long while. So I want to uphold the image of a police officer.
Q: What sort of training did you go through in school?
Kakach: We learned how to shoot guns, went through driving school, critical incident training and how to deal with people in stressful situations and if you get in a fight with somebody, how to control them. We get a lot of training. We feel like we're a jack of all trades but a master of none. Especially when we're distracted and have to make decisions in a split second, they really try to prepare us for that. Nothing really does until it's the real thing.
Anderson: The only thing I would add to what the sergeant said is that we've gone over a little more of community policing efforts. The history of the styles of policing, different problem-solving methods, and trying to think of ways to solve problems that are going to be more long-lasting. And officer wellness, how to take care of yourself off duty and understanding what your mind and your body are going through on duty and how to take care of that psychologically.
Kakach: A class that I took at Mankato was called police stress. And it was just dedicated to that. It teaches you about what your body goes through under stress. We actually had to write a 50-page paper on how we see stress in our lives and how we manage and deal with it, and how it relates to what we've learned in the class. Understanding what your body goes through, like tunnel vision and different things like that. Again, you can't get that through training very well; you're going to get that in a real-life experience.
Q: What skills should an officer have that the school can’t teach?
Kakach: The number one thing is you can't take things personally. People will say all kinds of things to you on the job. You can't take it home with you. They're going to say what they're going to say. Don't worry about it. Move on. You really got to have some thick skin.
Q: You often see the worst of the community; does that affect your view of the community? And if so, how do you keep a positive mindset?
Kakach: Yeah, that's a very interesting thing. When I became a Plymouth reserve, which was my hometown, I absolutely loved it. But you see a different side to your city, a side you don't want to see. I thought Duluth was just an incredible town; when you get there and realize what goes on in the city, it kind of changes your thought of it.
Coming to Alexandria, I was worried it would do the same thing. And it did a little bit. But something very interesting about working for a city like Alexandria is most of the officers that work here live here. So we take a lot of pride in our community. Coming to work every day, wanting to make our community a better community, we're going to work very hard at that. The problem is we get to know a lot of people in the community. So it seems like half the cars I pull over now are people I know. That makes it a little bit more challenging to do my job.
We do get approached, and usually, it's positive, but I've certainly had negative experiences.
If you don't live in the community that you serve, people aren't going to really recognize you nearly as much. But if I lived in a completely different community, I wouldn’t be so excited and wouldn’t have the same pride in that community that I do in the one I live in.
Part two will feature discussions about no-knock warrants, systematic racism, the "defund the police" movement, as well as ways cops can build trust with the community and what it means to be an Alexandria police officer.
Q: How are you taught to deescalate a situation where a person may be acting hostile but has not yet become violent?
Kakach: So the number one thing to do is keep yourself calm. And realize that a lot of times, people are not necessarily mad at me personally. Something that I started to do when I arrive on a scene and somebody is really worked up or if two people are arguing – it's not against the law, that's fine, they're allowed to do that. I can stand there to keep people safe in case it does escalate to a violent event — I listen to understand what the argument is about or why this person is so angry and gather just the details and kind of figure out what does help look like to them right now; what do they need. I can let them vent for a while if they need to. If they're going to come after me, I need to keep myself safe. But again, just staying calm, having a calm voice and talking to them like a normal human being. I don't need to tell them to calm down. They can yell and be loud for a little while and work it out themselves.
Anderson: Yeah, I'd have to agree. With my training, the biggest things have been providing options. Giving options to somebody who's aggressive but not violent can help them feel in control and bring them down. Treat people with respect, keep yourself calm, be a model for how somebody should be acting and then empathize with that person, understanding that you're with them at, likely, the worst time in their life.
Q: What are no-knock warrants? How do they affect the job?
Kakach: A no-knock warrant is a search warrant authorizing police officers to enter a certain premise without knocking and announcing their presence first. We're going to do this because we don't want to compromise the safety of the police and others as we approach or enter. And, of course, there's the destruction of property or the object that we're looking for in the search warrant; it gives people time to destroy drugs or whatever we're looking for. We don't always know what's on either side of that door. Therefore, if we have a no knock warrant, it's usually the SWAT team going in, which already means it's a pretty dangerous situation. And we need the upper hand.
Ultimately, we try to evolve with the times. If we don't need to do a no knock warrant, we don't want to do it. If there are other tricks or tactics, or just another way to go about it, we will try that. Also, no knock warrants aren't something that we do very often. We do know the danger to them.
Q: Have you seen an effect in recruitment or retention during the call to defund the police?
Kakach: I think our numbers are declining. We're seeing it in how many people apply for the open positions, but it's been going on even before the defund the police movement. Back when I got into the career, there were about 100 applicants... Now we're seeing a lot less people apply for the positions. I've even heard communities with more open positions than they can even get applicants for. Luckily, with Alexandria, we're a desirable place to live and work. Our community supports us even through the defunding police movement. We still get people applying with us, and we still get really good quality candidates.
Overall, it's not a positive thing for law enforcement. But, it gives us time to step back and rethink what we're doing and how we're doing it. If people really do defund the police, you're going to have less police on the street, and you're going to have much longer response times. Ultimately, we're going to respond to less types of things. We don't just respond to crimes. We go to traffic crashes, we do female escorts, we do lift assists and if we don't have the staff to do it, these are the things that we're just not going to be able to do.
Q: What is your response to those who say there is systemic racism within police departments?
Anderson: I don't think there's anybody cops hate more than bad cops. A bad representation is something that we're all going to despise and be against. Unfortunately, the media will push that forward because they have a runtime that they have to sell.
Kakach: Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. We often talk in our department, and we go through explicit, implicit training quite a bit. If we see an officer do something or say something, we're going to step in and make sure that it doesn't happen.
Q: What is the best way to address the stigma of cops?
Kakach: Number one is transparency. Be open with the community, and have engagements with the community. At the Alexandria Police Department, we're always open. If people want to see us or talk to us, they are always welcome to call or come in.
Q: What is something you wish civilians understood about the duties of police officers?
Kakach: One thing is, the police don't make the laws. We enforce the laws, even those we disagree with or don't like; we all have our own opinions on things. And a lot of people get upset at us for letting somebody out of jail. We don't let people out of jail. We bring them to jail.
Another thing we hear sometimes is, ‘The police didn't do anything.’ In some cases, there just isn't enough evidence. There are a number of reasons that we weren't able to help you. A lot of people call us for civil matters, which is different than a criminal matter. The police deal with criminal matters. We can't really get involved in too many civil matters. We can advise people that 'Hey, this is a civil matter, and this is how you need to take care of that, and this is what you need to do.’ So we're always willing to advise on how to move forward.
Anderson: I wish more people knew case law, such as Pennsylvania versus Mimms or Maryland versus Wilson, where an officer can legally require you to step out of your vehicle. And the rights that you have, such as, if somebody is involved in a criminal matter, you have the right to identify them. They don't have to answer questions beyond that, but they are required to provide identification.
Q: How would you describe the relationship between the Alexandria Police Department and the community?
Kakach: I think we have a very positive interaction with the community. A lot of places, even just between the other agencies, don't always get along for political reasons. When I came here, I was very happy to see that we get along very well with our sheriff's office, the State Patrol and the fire department. We are all community members. And again, I think it comes back to a lot of our officers work and live here. We have personal contacts with people and professional contacts with people. We're always available, and we're always out there. We do have extra time to spend with people when they need it. Sometimes we are busy, and we can't, but for the most part, we can, or we can come back to it or call them back.
Overall, I think it's very positive. We realize that there's always room for improvement. And we're always open to ideas on what we can do to be there for the community.
We do something called the Citizens Police Academy that allows people to get a real deep dive into what we do. It's a very positive thing, and it really opens a lot of people's eyes to what we do.
Q: The most rewarding part about being a police officer?
Kakach: I've helped domestic victims, and years later, I run into them, and they will tell me the changes in their life and how impactful that contact was for them. I had no idea because I just go to the next call and hope for the best.
I had a guy that I arrested for a DWI. He was very mean and rude to me and did not cooperate during the process. It was a challenge. I saw him years later. He came up to me and apologized. He said, ‘I remember I treated you so poorly. I'm sorry for that. I really want you to know that I have not had anything to drink since that night. I changed my life around.’ Those are things that we just never really know until somebody steps up and tells us. Of course, that doesn't always happen. But it's just nice to hear when somebody is willing to tell us those things.
It's a very rewarding career, even though negative things pop up here and there. But again, Alexandria is a great community. People desire to work here and live here. So my experience here is very different from officers in other areas that aren't as desirable.
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