ABOVE: Captain Eric Tonder will retire from the Fairmont Police Department at the end of this month after 28 years.

FAIRMONT– Captain Eric Tonder is retiring from the Fairmont Police Department at the end of this month after serving the city and its people through various roles since 1997.

Tonder grew up nearby in Albert Lea and after high school, he enrolled in the U.S. Army.

“I wanted to go into federal service but then I found out you pretty much have to move constantly in federal law enforcement, every three to five years. Even though I was single, that’s not what I wanted to do,” Tonder explained.

He served for four years, from 1988 to 1992, in Germany as an intelligence analyst, which he greatly enjoyed. Following that, he attended Minnesota State University-Mankato, which he graduated from with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

When it came time to look for jobs, Tonder applied and interviewed at both the Albert Lea Police Department and Fairmont Police Department.

“I interviewed here for practice because I hadn’t interviewed at a lot of jobs,” Tonder admitted.

His wife, Wendi, was teaching in Albert Lea so while it made sense to stay in his hometown and work, Tonder said he had done a ride along in Fairmont and was impressed with the department and how the officers interacted with both the public and each other.

“I got offered both jobs but I took this job and my wife commuted for five years. I have always believed that you choose the department as much as the department chooses you,” Tonder said.

While he started as a patrol officer, Tonder quickly moved up the ranks as there were some retirements in the department. After three years, he became a patrol sergeant.

“That was a great job because you got to help manage a shift and keep officers engaged and still do plenty of patrol duties,” Tonder said.

He then became detective after that. It was a role he held for about 15 years which entailed some patrol work along with investigations.

“I did a variety of public speaking engagements and I did some more long-term work on cases,” Tonder said.

In 2019, Tonder became Captain. In this position, he’s had more of a leadership role. He manages day to day operations, including scheduling, and reviews and signs all criminal complaints.

While he is in the office more with this role, Tonder enjoys the work and noted that it’s still a uniform position. Both he and Chief Hunter have emergency vehicles and can respond to calls if and when needed.

“We’ve had some shortages where the chief and I have done a lot of that, also to give people time off,” Tonder said.

In 28 years, Tonder has seen many changes, mostly where technology is concerned.

“When I started there was no internet in the building. We had AOL minutes for dialup for the department. We had no cell phones and no emails. Everything was done with memos and they were in mailboxes,” Tonder said.

Now he said they have the ability to turn on body cameras and watch officers in action.

He said the changes have been gradual and said there’s pros and cons to technology. A pro is that it offers advantages to being successful like communicating, tracking and documenting evidence. However he said it also tethers them to the job 24/7.

“We’re on call anyway, but now it’s a text and an email and everything. You just have to separate the two when you can,” he said.

His favorite thing about the job has been the people he’s worked with, including the public, which he said has been extremely supportive.

“We have wonderful relationships with the community from residents to businesses and the school,” Tonder said.

He has enjoyed being a resource to those who need something. He’s also enjoyed the variety that the job has brought and noted that every day is different.

The decision to retire now simply comes because Tonder turned 55 earlier this month and he wanted to finish out the month before retiring.

“It just fit for me,” Tonder said.

He feels accomplished on a personal level as he’s seen both daughters get married and recently welcomed his first grandchild. After a satisfying career, Tonder is ready to focus his efforts elsewhere and spend more time on his hobbies.

“I love what I do and I love the job and I’ll miss it,” he said. “I want to get back to hunting and fishing and outdoor activities that I used to do. I look forward to getting back to that and spending more time with my family.”

He had nothing but good things to say about the people he’s interacted with over the course of his career.

“I never stamp people. Doing one good thing doesn’t make you great and doing one bad thing doesn’t make you bad. Sometimes you’re seeing people at their worst time, but I’ve seen people who say, ‘hey do you remember me? Thanks for being nice to me,’ or ‘thanks for helping me out.’ People love to tell you that they’ve improved and that’s great,” Tonder said.

His word of advice to people is to seek out the good and said if something bad or negative happens to you in the day you should go find two things that are positive.

Finally, Tonder encourages anyone who wants to help people and leave a lasting impact to consider law enforcement.

“It’s a very rewarding job. It has its challenges, but it’s more positive than negative,” Tonder said.