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Fairmont training 2 new police officers

FAIRMONT — Two new officers have joined the ranks of the Fairmont Police Department, and one veteran officer has been promoted.

Josh Nelson and Colin Hagert were sworn in at the end of March and are in the middle of their three-month field training program for new officers. James Tietje, a 14-year member of the department, recently achieved the rank of sergeant.

Nelson, 26, might seem like a familiar face. The Sherburn native graduated from Alexandria Technical and Community College in 2011, did an internship with the Fairmont Police Department and worked part time for several area law enforcement agencies before earning a full-time slot with the Sherburn/Welcome department. He merited a position with HEAT, the 20-member regional emergency response team, before taking a job in Northfield about two years ago.

“I wanted to come back to this area because I’d worked for almost every agency around here,” Nelson said. “Fairmont is the one I really clicked with and got along with everyone.”

“Northfield has a lot of different areas you can get into, like specialty teams and investigations. Fairmont has those same opportunities,” he said.

Nelson’s family includes three older brothers, one of whom is Trimont’s police chief. He describes himself as “single, no kids, no girlfriend” with interests in fishing, hunting, fitness and restoring a 1968 Mustang.

“I’m excited to be back in the area. I’m excited to work with the Fairmont Police Department and look forward to the opportunities that they present me,” he said. “It’ll be nice to come back to friends and family and the community that first started my career in law enforcement.”

At 21, Hagert becomes the youngest member on the force and takes teasing about “taking off the training wheels” with a grin. He grew up in Cobden, a tiny community of about 30 residents located seven miles west of Sleepy Eye. After attending high school in Springfield, he graduated from Alexandria Tech in 2016, earning a job with the Sleepy Eye police immediately after. He said he was drawn to Fairmont because of “the sheer amount of opportunities here.”

“Being able to talk to the other officers and get their opinions, just the learning experiences here are great,” he said. “We’ve got the chief, detectives, lieutenants, sergeants. In Sleepy Eye, we just had the chief. I want to be able to move up and take on as many responsibilities as I can.”

Hagert comes from a small family and has a girlfriend of three years. A sports enthusiast, he spends his available free time outside, running 5K and 10K events and riding his motorcycle, which he plans to upgrade soon.

“I’m excited to be here. There’s much more to do, so many more opportunities here,” he said. “We get a lot more calls here. We’ve got over 3,000 ICRs (initial complaint reports) so far this year. We’d get that in a whole year in Sleepy Eye.”

Tietje, like Nelson and Hagert, is an Alexandria graduate who worked part time in Truman before joining the Fairmont department in 2003. During his tenure, the Martin County native has taken extensive training in detecting and apprehending drug-impaired drivers. He is a member of HEAT and serves as Fairmont’s field training officer. He received the department’s 2015 Award for Valor for courage exposing himself to great harm during a standoff situation in Westbrook in March of that year.

Tietje sees his promotion as a chance to use his experience in a leadership capacity.

“It’s more opportunities for me, more responsibilities as far as our department and our community,” he said. “It gives me an opportunity to lead our young officers and lead by example on how we do things, be somebody to come to when they have questions.”

Fairmont Police Chief Mike Hunter said the hiring of Nelson and Hagert fills two slots that were open due to promotion and retirement. The City Council authorized hiring an additional officer this year so Hunter is in the process of hiring that individual who should start next month. One of the current officers on the force will assume the duties of school resource officer, another move recently authorized by the council.

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