ABOVE: Fairmont Police Chief Michael Hunter, pictured in his office next to a photo of the department he oversees, will retire from his role at the end of this month.

FAIRMONT– After more than 27 years with the Fairmont Police Department, nine of them as Chief, Michael Hunter is retiring at the end of this month.

Hunter was born in St. Paul and grew up in a nearby suburb. It was through interactions growing up that Hunter decided he wanted to go into law enforcement.

“My uncle was a police officer with the city of St. Louis Park for several years and one of my friend’s dad was a police officer for the city of Eagan Police Department,” Hunter said. “During my time in high school I was able to speak to several Apple Valley and Rosemount police officers about their job. All the officers I spoke to were very decent, taking the time to talk to me about a variety of things and about their careers.”

Following high school graduation, he went to the University of St. Thomas where he received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in psychology. Then, he spent the summer attending the Law Enforcement Training Center in Edina. He was one of the last two classes to go through skills component at that center before it closed.

“After that I was lucky enough to get hired by the Burnsville Police Department as a Community Service Officer (CSO) and greatly enjoyed my time there,” Hunter said.

He spent about two years there before he started looking for something different. Of course, at that time, in the 1990s, Hunter said the job market was very different than it is now.

“There were about 300 to 400 people applying for every one or two jobs that were posted at particular agencies,” Hunter explained.

He ended up taking a job with the Minneapolis Police Department for a short time before he was offered a job with the Madelia Police Department, which he said was a unique change.

“Madelia at the time had about 2,300 people in it and the school I graduated from had about 2,400 students. It was a change, but it was a good change for me both personally and professionally,” Hunter said.

While he didn’t really have a goal of someday moving to a small town, Hunter enjoyed getting to know the people in the community on a more personal level.

After another two years in Madelia, in 1998, Hunter saw that the Fairmont Police Department had a few openings due to retirements. He had spent some time in the city and decided to apply. His first day was July 2, 1998.

He started off as a Patrol Officer but has worked in many roles since including School Resource Officer (SRO), Employment Background Investigator and Patrol Sergeant, which he greatly enjoyed.

“I started that back in 2003. I worked as a weekend nights supervisor. There were a lot of things going on. It was very enjoyable work,” Hunter said.

In addition to that, Hunter said one of the things he’s enjoyed most is spending 18 years in the regional emergency response unit, which serves most of Southwest Minnesota and Northern Iowa.

Back in 2016, when Greg Brolsma was preparing to retire as Chief, Hunter had a strong interest in the position, applied and was offered the job in November 2016. He started his role on Dec. 6, 2016.

One of the first things Hunter did as Chief was ensure that the community is given an in-depth report on what the department all does in a year.

“We brought back the annual report. Each year we put it together and present it to the city council. When I say ‘we’, it is an entirely team process to get all of that information together and make it available to the community,” Hunter said.

He said it provides transparency and understanding of the services the department provides in Fairmont. The first report, made available in 2017, was on the 2016 year.

During his time as Chief, several popular programs that have an emphasis on community have emerged including Shop with a Cop, Fairmont Night Out and Adopt a Cop. Hunter expressed that all programs have been made possible due to the commitment and work of the department.

Of course over more than three decades in law enforcement Hunter has noticed a lot of changes to the profession. He said the candidate pool and applicants has greatly changed.

“What I’ve seen since 2020 with the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis and the de-fund the police movements around the nation, it’s not just Fairmont and it’s not just Minnesota but it’s throughout the nation that the profession needed a bit of a reset as to how we’re going to recruit people into law enforcement,” Hunter explained.

However, he said the department in Fairmont is currently full-strength at 18 full-time officers, two full-time civilian record technicians and two part-time police officers. Hunter said it has to do a lot with the focus on local candidates who have a tie to the area.

“A lot of our candidates have done ride alongs. Some have been interns, some have been Community Service Officers. We’ve done well recruiting some of the local students to make this their career choice in Fairmont,” Hunter said.

He added that while the focus used to be on a person’s resume and their training and experience, as it was a way to manage the applicant pool, that’s changed, too.

“When I was in college, we had an assignment to go interview a police chief and ask a variety of questions… I eventually was able to interview a Captain at the Eagan Police Department and after all the questions I asked what he was looking for in candidates and I was expecting him to talk about training and experience, but he had a simple and meaningful answer. He said, ‘we’re looking for good people,'” Hunter recalled.

That’s something Hunter has kept in mind when going through the hiring process. He said they look for characteristics like kindness and compassion because someone can be taught the rest.

Hunter has also seen many changes in technology throughout his time in law enforcement. He spoke about handwriting police reports early on in his career and he said now they use computers and cell phones for things like that.

“We’ve gone from things like tape recorders, cameras with film, VHS video cameras, to now that’s all done on my phone on an app and I can send it to the County Attorney,” Hunter said.

What’s in the squad cars, including the squad cars themselves, have also changed.

“Back in the 90s I remember having to drive my four-wheel drive Jeep into work, just so I could make it there and get into a rear-wheel drive Crown Victoria and barely make it around town. Now we have the all-wheel drive SUVs,” Hunter said.

The emergence of body-worn cameras is also something that came out in 2017, right when Hunter took over as Chief.

“We were one of the first agencies in Southern Minnesota to establish body-worn cameras on the street for use by our patrol officers. They’ve been a great tool and we’ve had great support for them. It helps to give an objective view of what occurred during the services and interactions of our officers,” Hunter said.

While Hunter has greatly enjoyed his career and his time in Fairmont, now is the time for him to retire. He said he’s looking forward to selling the silver Charger that everyone can pick out a mile away and shopping for some clothes that aren’t made out of blue polyester.

In all seriousness, Hunter said, “I think I’m maybe going to do a little bit of traveling. I haven’t had the opportunity to do that over the years. I’ll start looking for some other interests that will keep me involved in the community.”

He will miss the people he’s worked for and the people he’s worked with.

“I worked nights, weekends and holidays with some of our officers when they first came to our department. I ended up hiring over half of our current department and I couldn’t be more proud of the people we have here,” he said.

Parker Stevens was hired by Hunter in 2021 and has learned much from him in the last four years.

“He has taught me to always be Fair, Professional and Dedicated to the community and the department. This is his pride and joy of what FPD stands for,” Stevens said.

While not hired by him, Jaime Bleess, Community Outreach Sergeant, has worked with Hunter since he started in 2003.

“Chief Hunter’s leadership focus has been to help our police officers successfully provide Fair, Professional and Dedicated service to the Fairmont community. He has been intentional about preparing us for this transition with leadership and training opportunities that equip us for the future. We wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement from policing,” Bleess said.

Hunter is ending his career as Chief, which isn’t a role he ever really saw himself in, through he’s thankful for the journey he’s had.

“When I started my career, I was just proud to be a police officer and where that career took me, I had some things in mind that I wanted to do. Some I was able to achieve and others just didn’t come across the table. Regardless of my position, whether it was Patrol Officer, Patrol Sergeant or Chief of Police, my goal was to always treat people with respect and objectivity,” Hunter said.

In all that he’s done over his career, Hunter gives credit to the support of his mentors and his fellow officers, but mostly to his family.

“As I close out my career, I’d like to thank our community members and community leaders for allowing me the opportunity to spend the majority of my career here in Fairmont. I’d also like to thank the members of our department who continue to serve our community– I could not ask for a greater group of people to close out my career with. Most importantly I’d like to thank my wife Jennifer and our daughters Alexa and Kelsey for their support and understanding during my career. Not everyday was a good day and I missed a lot of birthdays and holidays, but over the years they have allowed me the opportunity to chase my career goals and I certainly could not have done it without them.”

Hunter’s last official day is Nov. 30. Captain Mike Beletti will serve as interim Chief before a new Chief is hired.