​​A close-knit community rooted deep with tradition, the South Central Minnesota town of New Ulm was busy celebrating our country’s independence and their strong German Heritage.  One of the original settlers of that area was the Winkelmann family – and their 32 year old son Albert was the young Night Watchman that evening.  While Albert had only been serving this community for less than a year, locals described him as a young man everyone was fond of -  a splendid officer, always obliging, conservative, and courageous.  This festive night would end with Albert being ambushed and shot in the early morning hours of July 5th.  What followed was an aggressive investigation, a prominent local man charged and then acquitted for his murder, and a community reeling over the loss of a hero.      ​​This episode is sponsored by our friends at Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc. ​ Click here if you are interested learning how you can support this podcast and the National COPS organization: www.glow.fm/officerdownmemorialpodcast   WARNING: Violent content may be disturbing to some listeners.  Listener discretion advised.

43 year old Mike Hogan grew up in Hutchinson Minnesota, served his country in Vietnam after high school, and returned to his home town to serve as a police officer.  When he wasn't patrolling or coaching at the high school, he was spending time with his wife and three kids.  Mike loved being a cop, loved his country, loved this community, and loved his family. On a bitterly cold Friday night in December, Mike would get dispatched to a shoplifting complaint at the JC Penny store in the local mall.  A misdemeanor shoplifting call ended in Mike getting murdered by an ex-con, followed by a series of multi-county crimes including a carjacking, 3 kidnappings, a rape, a high speed pursuit, and a standoff with hostages before Mike's murderer would finally be taken into custody. His murder left his family devastated, an agency in mourning, and this normally quiet, rural community in shock at the loss of this local hero.     ​​This episode is sponsored by our friends at Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc. ​ Click here if you are interested learning how you can support this podcast and the National COPS organization: www.glow.fm/officerdownmemorialpodcast   WARNING: Violent content may be disturbing to some listeners.  Listener discretion advised.

In this Special Edition of the Invisible Wounds Project we talk about Suicide Prevention Within Law Enforcement with the founder and Executive Director of the Invisible Wounds Project, Russ Hanes.

Russ worked in nearly every aspect of law enforcement and public safety before walking away from his career due to challenges with PTSD and suicidal ideation - affects of cumulative stress from years of service.  After recognizing the need for mental health support for first responders in Minnesota and realizing the lack of services that were available, he started the Invisible Wounds Project and continues to serve out of their support center in Forest Lake Minnesota.

This incredible organization is like no other in the way it supports Minnesota's first responders and their families.  An important episode for all MN first responders and their families - also an important episode for supervisors and administrators. 

All of the links mentioned in this episode can be found at:  www.officerdownmemorialpodcast.com/IWProject

This episode is brought to you by Law Enforcement Labor Services in Minnesota. 

 

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS STRUGGLING PLEASE KNOW THERE IS HELP AVAILABLE 24/7 BY PHONE. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, help is available 24/7 from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 988 on your cell phone or 1-800-273-TALK.  Help is just a phone call away.

In this small rural North Dakota community of Napoleon, Highway Patrolman Beryl McLane was well known and well liked. You might see him chatting it up at the post office, or downtown in the coffee shop visiting with the locals.  He was a man dedicated to service, having served in WWI and then for a handful of police departments in the southern part of the State before becoming a North Dakota Highway Patrolman.   In 22 years of law enforcement service, at 5’11” and 230 pounds, Beryl hadn’t been in any incident he couldn’t handle until this late July Friday afternoon.  In a split-second Beryl was gone - leaving behind his wife Bernice, adult children Robert and Beverly, and his beloved 3 year old grandson Kenneth.   He is North Dakota Highway Patrol's first and only recorded Line of Duty Death since they started in 1935.    You can see all the photos from this story on this hero's webpage at: https://officerdownmemorialpodcast.com/beryl-mclane   ​This episode is sponsored by our friends at Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc. ​ Click here if you are interested learning how you can support this podcast and the National COPS organization: www.glow.fm/officerdownmemorialpodcast   WARNING: Violent content may be disturbing to some listeners.  Listener discretion advised.

Deputy Edward (Ed) Eades was a Deputy Sheriff serving in the central Minnesota county of Meeker, located just over 60 miles West of Minneapolis.  A small, quiet county consisting of low rolling hills, a few wooded areas, and many lakes and ponds. The rest of the area is focused on agriculture. A quiet fall night ends up in 3 officer involved shootings in 3 different communities, with two officers shot, and the suspect shot.  One of these heroes, was veteran Deputy Edward Eades, who would lose his life from his gunshot injuries.  He left behind his wife Edith and kids David and Darlene, and is the first and only line of duty death ever recorded in Meeker County Minnesota. You can see photos from this incident on Deputy Eades' webpage at www.officerdownmemoriralpodcast.com/edward-eades   This episode is sponsored by our friends at Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc. ​ Click here if you are interested learning how you can support this podcast and the National COPS organization: www.glow.fm/officerdownmemorialpodcast WARNING: Violent content and strong language may be disturbing to some listeners.  Listener discretion advised.

If you are in law enforcement, a spouse or parent of a law enforcement officer, or an LE supporter, this is a good one for you.  In this special episode we share an interview Sheriff Rose recently did with Podcast 1's Policing Matters podcast host Jim Dudley. https://www.police1.com/columnists/James-Dudley 

Policing Matters is a weekly law enforcement podcast bringing you the latest news and critical issues impacting police officers.  Here is the link to the video of this interview: https://www.police1.com/health-wellness/addressing-the-emotional-toll-of-policing  You can find more great interviews and resources on their webpage at www.police1.com/policing-matters.  Other links from the show that we discussed include:

www.police1.com

www.bluehelp.com

www.nleomf.org

 Click here if you are interested learning how you can support this podcast and the National COPS organization: www.glow.fm/officerdownmemorialpodcast

Please contact us here if you have a fallen hero story you think should be told: https://www.officerdownmemorialpodcast.com/submit-your-hero-s-story 

This episode is sponsored by our friends at Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc.

Deputy Terry Hanson was a father of four, grandfather to two, and one of the veteran cops serving with the Rice County Sheriff’s Office. Co-workers referred to him as a “Mountain of a Man”, the nicest guy, one who was always looking out for the younger deputies. He was on patrol on a Friday night when he recognized a stolen vehicle in the city of Faribault. His attempted vehicle stop resulted in the suspects fleeing, which turned into a dangerous high-speed pursuit with speeds up to 100 mph in the city. The suspects ran cars off the roadway, forced pedestrians off the road, and rammed Terry’s squad several times before finally being stopped by a roadblock. The suspects, unknown to law enforcement until they got them stopped, were two teenage girls who were runaways wanting to flee to California. Terry lost his life at the end of this incident, inspite of the desperate efforts of his partners to try and save him. Terry’s family and his fellow deputies who were there help tell this heroes story - a story that reminds us of the unseen dangers of this profession, and the sacrifices our heroes and their families make every day for our communities. ​ This episode is sponsored by our friends at Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc. ​ Click here if you are interested learning how you can support this podcast and the National COPS organization: www.glow.fm/officerdownmemorialpodcast WARNING: Violent content and strong language may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion advised. ​ This episode is sponsored by our friends at Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc. ​ Click here if you are interested learning how you can support this podcast and the National COPS organization: www.glow.fm/officerdownmemorialpodcast   WARNING: Violent content and strong language may be disturbing to some listeners.  Listener discretion advised.

 In each episode of the Officer Down Memorial Podcast, Sheriff Scott Rose shares the stories of how these men and women heroically lost their lives in the Line of Duty. This podcasts gives you a glimpse of what law enforcement officers and their families go through every day to help keep our communities safe. These stories take you back in time to the era and the community where we lost these heroes. You'll feel like you were there when we lost these officers.

 

These stories are real and raw. Our mission is to ensure their sacrifice is never forgotten, and to show how our men and women who serve in law enforcement are true heroes every day they put on the badge. These podcasts are produced in a story telling format sharing these officer's stories based on input from the men and women who served with them and the families who were left behind. Older stories are written using historical documents and newspaper records. The goal of this program is to honor these fallen heroes, to remember their service, to always support the families they left behind, and to never forget their sacrifice. 

 

(This trailer uses tracks from multiple episodes of the podcast to give you a brief sampling of what to expect when you dive into this podcast and these episodes.  Learn more about the podcast at www.officerdownmemorialpodcast.com)

* CONTENT WARNING * Some of these stories contain strong language and violent adult content, which may be upsetting to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

MURDERS IN MORRISON COUNTY "The Story of Sheriff John Stack and Chief Deputy Andrew Herlitz"   If you threw a dart at the center of Minnesota, you'd likely hit Morrison County.  Focused on agriculture and tourism, this was your typical rural MN county- where families and kids felt safe and crime was low back in the mid 60s. Sheriff John Stack and Chief Deputy Andrew Herlitz ran a patrol crew of four along with the county jail.  Their kids tell stories of playing outside the jail, even playing board games inside the jail with inmates.  It's really an interesting story of how back in the day, the entire family was involved - from cooking, to cleaning, even taking emergency phone calls. This community would change forever on October 15th when the Sheriff's Office received a call requesting assistance mediating a dispute between farmers. While some calls like this can seem routine for rural law enforcement, this call would remind this small tight knit community that no call is routine. These two heroes responded to the farm - they'd dealt with this farmer before and felt they had a good rapport with him. In the end, the county's top two law enforcement officials were ambushed and murdered leaving behind two grieving families and a stunned community asking how could this happen in Morrison County?   Nearly 60 years later, the children from both families help us tell the story of these two amazing heroes, the impact they made on this community, and the legacy that continues today.   We have several family pictures, newspaper articles, and evidence photos on these heroes respective websites on our page: https://www.officerdownmemorialpodcast.com/john-stack https://www.officerdownmemorialpodcast.com/andrew-herlitz     This episode is sponsored by our friends at Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc.   Click here if you are interested learning how you can support this podcast and the National COPS organization: www.glow.fm/officerdownmemorialpodcast   WARNING: Violent content and strong language may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion advised.

A Trooper everyone loved at this agency - a great cop, great father, and a great friend.  He loved being a State Trooper.  Loved helping people.  Most importantly, he loved his family - his beautiful wife Denise and kids Alison, Alana, and Colin.  His friends called him Timmy.  He always showed everyone he came in contact with kindness and compassion.  While his primary responsibility was traffic safety when on patrol, he was always there to help back up other cops in his district if then needed help.  Including the night Chisago County Deputies were called to a shooting in June of 1997.  As usual, Tim was there to help and quick to volunteer to go in and help the victims and apprehend the shooter.  His actions, along with the others who responded, saved lives that night.  Unfortunately, this was a call he would not survive.  Tim's death left a family devastated, a department stunned, and an entire state in mourning.  He set the bar high, and his kindness will be forever remembered in the hearts and minds of all who had the pleasure of knowing him.       This episode is sponsored by our friends at Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc.   Click here if you are interested learning how you can support this podcast and the National COPS organization: www.glow.fm/officerdownmemorialpodcast   WARNING - Strong language and violent content may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.  If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, help is available 24/7 from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 988 on your cell phone or 1-800-273-TALK.  Help is just a phone call away.