Klanderud retiring from Sheriff’s Office
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MARTIN COUNTY - After nearly 30 years working for law enforcement in Martin County, Chief Deputy Corey Klanderud is retiring on Sept. 30.
Klanderud began his law enforcement career unassumingly, by taking a class to try it in college.
"I was going to school at Minnesota State University, Mankato," he said. "I took an intro to law enforcement class there, and I just enjoyed it and had fun, and just kept going in that direction. I had already been at school for probably a year and a half, or almost two years by the time that occurred. It was something that came naturally."
After a two to three month internship at the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office, Klanderud began working with the Fairmont Police Department in 1997. While Klanderud grew up in the Mankato area, Martin County is what made sense after he got married in 1995.
"We really like the community, the area, and we’re about an hour from each set of our parents," he said. "It was a nice fit. The more we learned about the community, we thought it would be a good place to raise a family as well."
When Klanderud started in 1997, he said it was a lot different than it is today.
"We didn’t even have cell phones," he said. "We’ve grown from cell phones to computers in the squads, and technology has really been the big growth in the law enforcement industry over these last 30 years. Lots of technology has changed, from in-squad cameras to body cameras, you name it. We’ve seen a lot of different changes in those years."
With these changes, he said he feels it has made officers and deputies more efficient.
"There’s a lot more technology that helps improve that efficiency," Klanderud said. "In that same regard, it might have separated us a little bit from the community. There’s not as much time to get out and just be with the community because we’re always trying to do more with less. We don’t always have the time and personnel to do all the things we want to do."
Through his years with the police department, he took on several roles.
"My first assignment was with the drug task force," Klanderud said. "As soon as I got done with that, I moved into the patrol division, and I worked general patrol for the police department. As that continued, I also spent time on our tactical team. I also got promoted to patrol sergeant and served a year and a half with our SRO program at the high school. About 2004-ish, I took a position in the detective’s office, and I worked there until 2011."
With Sheriff Jeff Markquart's election in 2011, Klanderud brought his experience to an administrative level as chief deputy.
"I’ve had a lot of opportunities with Fairmont Police Department," he said. "It helped me get a better perspective on all the different roles. I came to the sheriff’s office as an administration person, and I’ve got to do a lot with building the culture, hiring staff and working with staff to develop a strong team within the sheriff’s office, and it’s been really a great opportunity for me."
As a chief deputy, Klanderud said bringing in and supporting good people has been his greatest impact for the Sheriff's Office.
"The biggest part of our budget is our staff," he said. "The way to get things done is to have good staff, and that’s been one of our keys to being successful and continuing to move the sheriff’s office forward is by developing and building good employees."
While he said he could go on longer, Klanderud said now felt like it was time to transition.
"Sheriff Markquart is retiring at the end of this term, so the sheriff’s office will be transitioning," he said. "I become penalty-free for my retirement at the end of this month, and so it fit together where I could retire and help train and advise the next person that’s coming in to replace me."
Even so, Klanderud does not plan to slow down anytime soon. His next phase? Education, as he joins Iowa Lakes Community College.
"I’m going to run and instruct in their criminal justice program down there," Klanderud said. "I’m going to be able to teach the next generation with my experience in education about criminal justice and law enforcement, and hopefully train the next generation of new people coming into the profession."
With this change, Klanderud gets to bring an important aspect of his role as chief deputy to a new environment.
"It’s just another aspect of developing good people," he said. "That’s what a big portion of my role has been over the years with the sheriff’s office, developing our staff here. I think going into teaching is opening up that even broader to bringing new people into the profession and helping develop good people that might fill these roles."
For those in law enforcement now or going into it, Klanderud said they should not be afraid to take advantage of opportunities.
"You might not see every different assignment or position as something you might be immediately interested in, but it builds a better perspective on all areas of law enforcement," he said. "Don’t be afraid to try something new."